


Somewhere Between Here and There

by tauri17



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Action/Adventure, Cute, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Romance, Slow Burn, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:09:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 44
Words: 160,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24567481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tauri17/pseuds/tauri17
Summary: That’s when I see it. I’m surprised I didn’t notice it when I first rounded the corner. A tower just barely taller than those around it. A tower that was NOT supposed to be there. A tower that did NOT belong in my city-- but a tower I had seen before. A tower with a single shining A on top. And the single horrifying realization shook the fear and panic from my bones, only to replace it with complete and utter shock.This stuff only happens in movies.
Relationships: Avengers Team/Reader, Bruce Banner & Reader, Clint Barton & Reader, James "Bucky" Barnes & Reader, Natasha Romanov (Marvel) & Reader, Pietro Maximoff/Reader, Sam Wilson & Reader, Steve Rogers/Reader, T'Challa (Marvel)/Reader, Thor & Reader, Tony Stark & Reader, Wanda Maximoff & Reader
Comments: 128
Kudos: 483





	1. Not the City You Knew

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve only recently learned the difference between self insert and reader insert— so this is in first person but it is meant to be the reader (that’s always how I liked reading fanfics anyway lol). Sorry for any confusion!

I had been walking. I could’ve sworn that I was walking along the Hudson River. I could’ve sworn that the sun was setting over my right shoulder, disappearing into the mist that hovered over Hoboken, leaving a lone clocktower silhouetted against a dirty horizon. I could’ve sworn I’d turned off the music I’d been blasting, to give my mind more space to wander. I could have sworn I was there, I _knew_ I had just been there.

_Then how can I be here?_

I was still in the city, I knew that much, I was lucky enough to recognize the intersection of 55th and Lex. I sat huddled up next to a corner of an old synagogue… but it was dark out? Dark enough to be late at night, way darker than it should’ve been on a summer evening. _What the hell?_ I pressed the heels of my hands against my face and my eyes darted back and forth as if they could help my mind see how all this happened. But there was nothing. It was just a dark night. And I was alone.

Alone and probably looking pretty crazy, sitting on a street corner damp with the warm night’s humidity. I must’ve been resting there for just a few minutes, but nevertheless it had been long enough to start getting some suspicious looks from the few passersby on the nearly empty street.

_What time is it exactly?_ How many hours could’ve passed in my lapse of memory? I looked around me again feeling lost even though I was sitting in _my_ city, and only five feet away from the street sign that told me exactly where I was.

_Priorities._ I reminded myself. _Figure out what happened._ I gathered myself as I stood up, a bit wobbly, but no worse for wear, and started walking west towards 5th ave as that was my usual safety route when it was late and I wanted to get home. As I walked, I took a mental check on what I had on me, wondering if it could clue me in on what was happening. I was still wearing the same clothes that I had been before: denim shorts and a white shirt that I had tied at my waist. I knew definitively that I was still wearing the wedges that set my ankles high above the street as I stumbled on the uneven pavement. I also still wore my favorite necklace, a simple, small lightning bolt on a thing gold chain, and I still felt the comforting rectangle of my phone in my back pocket, so I was confident enough to assume that I hadn’t gotten in to too much trouble.

It took a moment for the realization to dawn on me, but as soon as the gears shifted inside my strange and weary brain, an impulse I can’t name sent my hand flying towards my back pocket.I whipped out my phone and furiously typed in my passcode as I prepared myself for the slew of missed phone calls and caps lock texts that I was sure awaited me. But as I stared at the screen of my phone I was met with a suspicious lack of red alerts. In fact, there wasn’t a single text from my parents since I had let my mom know that I was going for a walk and she told me to “Have fun and be safe”. That was at seven o’clock. I looked at the time on the top of my screen. _1 AM._

So that was five hours ago.

Before I was worried. Now I’m just scared.

I dialed the home phone number, but I only hear the empty call tone signaling that my phone can’t find the number I’m looking for. I called my mom, frantic at this point, but there’s no answer. I call my dad, my brothers, I leave texts begging someone to respond to me, but nothing is getting through. All my calls “cannot find server.” All my texts are “undelivered”. I start to walk a little faster down the street, fighting to hold back tears, hoping I could find someone to help me once I got to a more populated area.

I keep walking, concentrating on staying as calm and collected as I could when my entire world seemed to have abandoned me, when I heard footsteps behind me. I’m not afraid, it’s a big city, it’s not like I’m never going to have to share the street, but I put on my game face nonetheless. It’s late. I’m alone. I can’t afford trouble.

“Hey baby, why you walking so fast?”

_Fuck._ I harden myself against the gaze that I can feel against the back of my legs and keep walking.

“Hey, I’m talking to you.”

_And I’m ignoring you._

“Come on beautiful, how about a smile?”

_No._

“Just a little sumthin’ babe…”

The second I feel his hand brush against the hem of my shorts, my entire body goes into red alert. I don’t even bother to look at his face as my left hand grabs his wrist and I turn myself around to deliver a sharp blow to his sternum with the heel of my right palm. It’s what I was taught to do. It’s how I was told to defend myself. This kind of attention was normal. It was commonplace. It was expected. What wasn’t expected, however, was the jolt of electricity that ran down my arm and through his chest as my hand came into contact with his sweat streaked shirt.

Suddenly, he went flying backward, his expression as shocked as his body had been. And he landed firmly on his well tailored ass, his hair sticking up at all angles, about ten feet up the block. Our eyes met for a second and a half before we both ran like hell away from each other.

Truth be told, I don’t know who was more scared in that moment. I ran until I reached Park avenue where I let myself crumple against the corner of a white building. My eyes were too wide to paint any tears down my dropped jaw and my chest was heaving from the surprising amount of energy it had taken to run the two and a half blocks. I stared at my hands in horror. Panic gripped my chest as my heart beat faster and faster, the fear raising from the soles of my shoes. _This stuff doesn’t happen,_ I remind myself. _This cannot be happening to me, how could this be happening? This stuff only happens in stories, in— in pretend!_

I rested the back on my head against the building behind me, relying on it’s support as my mind reeled. And that’s when I see it. I’m surprised I didn’t notice it when I first rounded the corner. A tower just barely taller than those around it. A tower that was NOT supposed to be there. A tower that did NOT belong in my city, but a tower I had seen before. A tower with a single shining A on top. And the single horrifying realization shook the fear and panic from my bones, only to replace it with complete and utter shock.

_This stuff only happens in movies._

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

The world around me seemed to spin. I didn’t know how this could be possible. I searched for a justification. _Could the fans really be this crazy? Has it actually gotten to the point where they can build the FREAKING AVENGERS TOWER overnight?_

“Excuse me ma’am, are you alright?” The doorman from the apartment building a few yards away brushed the top of my shoulder to steady me as I slid down the base of the concrete building. His question lingered in the air between his worried gaze and my dizzy one.

“Ma’am?”

I tried to shake myself from the sirens in my ears. I shook my head slightly to hide my misting eyes and scratched a grin across my cheeks. I laughed lightly, trying to sound more like a tired teenager than someone who was currently debating the state of their sanity.

“I’m alright sir, I was just a bit dizzy from running” I tried to reassure him.

“You were running ma’am?” He asked me, the worry that had disappeared from his face for the briefest of seconds had returned with a vengeance. He gripped my elbow to help support me against the wall. Apparently running at this time of night in heels and cutoffs didn’t imply “hearty workout” but instead “probably being chased”. I winced. I had to be more careful.

“Oh yes, see I was just worried that I was out too late and my… uh…” I didn’t think it would help him to know that I was only seventeen, trying to get home to my parents. “My roommate might be worried! So I was trying to hurry back home.”

“Oh,” he relaxed a bit. “ Would you like me to call you a cab? Get you home faster?”

“Um,” I hesitated. _If no one was answering the home phone and there is suddenly a brand new tower in the middle of my city, how could I know that anyone would be at home?_ There seemed to be no guarantee about anything at this point. _Maybe I should ask him for help?_ “I think I’m fine for now actually. Now that I’m on Park, I’m only a few blocks away. Thanks so much for your help though!” I added with a winning smile as I got to my feet. Going home would mean being at least an hour walk _past_ the Avenger’s Tower, but it was doable. Not to mention the fact that I didn’t have any money on me to pay for a cab.

“Alright, ma’am, have a good night” he tipped his hat and turned to return to his station under the navy blue awning next to the gilded double doors.

I got to my feet, taking an extra second to balance myself on top of my shoes, and started walking south, down Park, towards that shining tower. I gave the helpful doorman a polite nod and wave as I passed him, and he replied with a slightly confused, but comforting smile. But as I turned my head to face the tower once more, I could just catch him shaking his head, his eyebrows knitting together with an air of incredulity set on his face. I raised my chin, walking with manufactured confidence as I put him and the awkward encounter behind me.

The AvengersTower stood before me exactly as it had in the movies, tall and proud, framed by the rows of buildings lining Park, in exactly the place that the Met building had occupied in my memory. It sat in the center of the avenue, with two tunnels running through either side of its base.

_It’s taller than I thought it would be._

As I walked, I tried to asses possible theories to explain my current situation. The most reasonable at the moment was that this was a parallel universe. A bit of a cop out, sure, but there wasn’t really anything else to make of the situation. Although the “multiverse” concept had always seemed believable to me, its reality was hard to wrap my mind around, but who was I to go against Neil deGras Tyson and Stephen Hawking? Besides, any other ideas seemed equally— if not more insane. Obsessed fangirls building a skyscraper in the middle of manhattan in a number of hours with no press coverage? Not likely. Not to mention the fact that I could now produce lightning from the palms of my hands. They didn’t exactly cover that in biology. Not at the high school level at least. You picked up your pace, only two blocks away. _So I’m in a parallel universe. Without my family. At least I think._ My feet slowed for a second. How could I be sure that my family wasn’t sitting in their apartment waiting for me? Maybe my phone just stopped working. _Stupid! How could I just assume that I wouldn’t be able to find them because I couldn’t text them?_ I thought. I whipped out my phone again— this time searching for the number for my building. I read it and then read it again, muttering it under my breath like a prayer. I scanned the street for the nearest doorway, letting my eyes linger on the Avenger’s tower for an extra second, entranced by its existence. _It will still be there when I get back. I think._

I scurried into the nearest building, the Waldorf Astoria, and launched myself through the golden doorway. I walked with as much calmness as I could muster towards the information desk, and smiled politely at the middle-aged lady behind the slab of marble.

“Excuse me miss, could I please make a call?”

“Of course,” She lifted the phone over the counter before giving me a quizzical look, “Is everything alright miss?”

“Oh yes, everything’s fine, my phone just died.”

“Alright, miss,” she said, the creases of confusion smoothed over by a calmer, happier expression. She pressed a button in the lower right hand corner of the phone, “You may dial the number now.”

I dialed furiously fast, my finger flying over the numbers. The fingers of my left hand tapped aggressively against my thigh in nervousness as I waited for the phone to stop ringing. I fought to keep the rest of my body as calm as possible, not wanting to alarm the lady at the desk again.

“Hello, 24 5th avenue” I almost cried with relief as the familiar accent of my doorman rang through the speakers of the phone.

“Hello, could you please put me in touch with the residents in apartment 4C? Mr and Ms (YLN)? They aren’t answering my calls.”

“4C?” His accent was laced with confusion.

My heart sank. “Yes. Apartment 4C?”

“I’m sorry miss but that apartment’s been empty for the last few months. Its last resident moved out a few months ago. A lovely woman, her grandchildren bought her a condo down in Florida.”

I felt my heart pour into my stomach.

“Oh, how nice,” I tried to keep my voice from shaking as the brief hope I had held out filtered through his last words. “Well thank you very much for your time, have a good night sir.”

“Goodnight miss.”

I handed the phone back to the receptionist with a shaky smile and a shaky hand. She regarded me with a similar expression, her smile racked with concern at my less than successful sounding call.

“Are you finished with your call miss?”

“Yes, all done, thank you”

“Would you like to call anyone else?”

“No thank you ma’am, I heard everything I needed to.”

“Alright then.”

“Thank you ma’am. Have a goodnight.”

“Are you sure you’re alright miss?”

“Yes”

_No._


	2. Intruder Alert

I put my hand on the smooth glass exterior of the Avenger’s Tower, half expecting my fingers to pass straight through it as if it were some sort of mirage, but its walls were solid and steady. Almost as steady as the stream of half drunk partygoers that flowed out of the double glass doors of the building. _So I guess the Stark parties really are as crazy as they say._ I smiled at my sudden luck, _this makes things easier than I thought._ I walked towards the entrance, placing my feet farther across each other with each step and letting my head tilt back and forth. And each time my feet made contact with the concrete sidewalk my strut shuddered with a whole body definite drunken look. I slid my way between a very unsteady looking woman in a hot pink skirt who was relying on the strength of her equally unsteady friends to balance her and I leaned against the door as I entered the lobby of the tower. I looked around at the lobby, full of tired partygoers and building staff. I staggered my way towards the center of the lobby where there was a large circular desk with several receptionists. I set a course for the nearest blazer clad worker, taking care to pick the youngest of them, and slapping on a daze of extra confusion and innocence as I walked.

“‘Ssscuse me mizzz, but can I please go up to Stark’s place?” I asked making it look like I was attempting not to slur words but failing miserably.

“I’m sorry miss, but the party seems to be ending. I was told not to let anyone else up.” She didn’t seem very suspicious, on the contrary, she looked like she was genuinely trying to help. I almost felt guilty for having to lie to her, but desperate times….

“Nonononono I know, I know. I was here before, but I was feeling a lil’ sick and so I had to go to a friends house to change, but I left my _purse_ in his house and I cccan’t get in my _house_ without my _purse_ so I just need to go *hicup* to go get it.”

“Oh, well alright miss, I’m sure that won’t be too much of a problem seeing as though most of the guests only just left. Go ahead and take the elevator up,” she gestured towards a dinging door to the right of the room, “Just hit the button that says Pent House.” she added, speaking slowly and careful, as one might talk to a child or even a newly trained puppy.

_Drunk really is the best disguise._

“Oh my god thank you SO much. You’re SUPER nice.” I gave her a sleepy looking grin as I stumbled my way over to the elevator and made a show of reading all the numbers on the buttons until I found the one marked PH, pressing it with a triumphant smile and a friendly wave back to my receptionist friend.

The elevator zoomed upward, jolting my stomach in a way the elevator in my apartment building never had. I tried my best to gather myself, taking deep breaths to slow my racing heart. I was suddenly terrified, I had spent all my energy trying to get to this point but now that I was here I had no idea what I would say or do. I felt near tears, my breath caught high in my throat with every second as the elevator ticked up, floor by floor. It was as if all the night’s confusions had hit me in one fell swoop and and were now sitting on my chest, refusing to be ignored for another moment. I watched the elevator climb the floors. 54, 55, 56, 57. I put the heels of my hands to my temple and focused on the numbers as they passed. 60, 61, 62, 63.

_I will not screw up now. I’ve gotten this far, and I have nothing to loose. What’s the worst that could happen? They say I’m crazy? At least then we’ll all agree…._

68, 69, 70, 71. I let my arms fall to my sides and took one more deep breath, I steadied myself, raising my chin and my chest. I wasn’t going to go in afraid. I wasn’t going to let anyone see how out of place I felt, how lonely, how worried. I glanced up to look at the numbers again, to see how much time I had left to steel myself against the unknown beyond the door of the elevator, but the numbers were gone. The elevator had slowed to that suspended halt, and the letters PH read above the doors. There was a little ding that seemed far too cheerful for my circumstances, and I knew I had arrived.

The doors slithered opened in a disgustingly graceful manner and introduced me to a collection of hearty laughs and cries of merriment under the dim lighting. I crept out of the little box seated so far off the ground, setting the toe of my shoe on the marble floor as if it were a sheet of ice. I closed my eyes once more and shifted my weight on to the foot, prying myself from the safety of the elevator. I felt I was a little kid again— up too late, trying to walk around the house with out triggering any of the creaky floor boards. I dragged my other leg out of the elevator and set it down gently on the Pent House floor. I jumped slightly as the elevator doors started to close behind me, as if signifying the point of no return. I was here.

Now what the hell was I going to do.

I took another deep breath and lifted my chin. Walking still gingerly on the marble floor but with whatever pride I could muster, I made my way through the empty room that the elevator had brought me to, a large space with a bar on the far side and a small loft to the right. It was littered with empty glasses and crumpled cocktail napkins. The whole place seemed illuminated by dim lighting and ripe with a smell of alcohol that lingered in the air. I crept through the room as silently as possible, although the idea of sneaking around the people I know were in the next room was laughable at best. Reaching the other side of the room, I stood just outside a doorway reflecting a brighter warmer light. It wasn’t difficult to tell that all the joyful noises were coming from the area just behind the doorway, and that if I wanted to talk to the greatest scientific minds in this universe, I would have to walk into that room. And it would have to happen now, but only if I could take the two steps through that doorway.

_Calm down. Everything is going to be fine, you just have to do it. Don’t think about it, just do it._ Not wanting to try to slip into a room that I could only assume was full of super heroes and master assassins, I swallowed hard and took another breath.

“Excuse me.” My call could hardly qualify as a glorified whisper, but it was enough to get the attention of the other room. The noise turned to silence and the world around me seemed to slow to a crawl as I took a step forward, then another, and another until I was close enough to poke my head through the doorway. And there they were. The Avengers.

_God this feels stupid,_ I thought. _Superheroes aren’t real. None of this is really REAL._ I fought the urge to ask if I had accidentally walked in on some premier after party or something. Deep down I knew what this was. What this had to be. And it wasn’t a cast party.

This was not my universe. These were not actors. These were the Avengers. And they were staring at me. I took another step so that my entire body could be seen in the doorway, standing perfectly straight with my head held high. I stood there until I realized that they were probably waiting for me to say something.

“I have to ask you something.”

They all looked at me. Evidently they were expecting you to continue.

“… But I have to admit, it’s kind of a long story. You might think I’m crazy, but I need help, and I don’t know if there’s anyone else who could help me.” The words tumbled out of my mouth soiling whatever confident posture I’d tried so hard to put on. My eyes were brimming with tears. All the stress of the night was coming to a head as I was about to tell someone the truth, about to trust someone with a story that sounded like madness.

At this point they all looked concerned, but it was Steve who stood up from his position on the couch and, in four long strides, crossed the distance between us (a distance that would’ve taken my short legs several steps). He rested his hand atop my left shoulder and looked into my eyes with a miraculous compassion that was backed with an undeniable power.

“Are you alright miss?” He asked. That same question that I had heard too many times before in the past hours, but this was the first time I felt like I could answer truthfully.

“No.” I let the tears fall past my eyelids, rolling down my cheeks. I could feel myself shaking under his hand. “Please, I need help.”

“Tell me what happened.” He crouched down until he was on his knees, the compassion in his eyes joined by capability. Over his shoulder I could see the rest of the avengers getting to their feet and looking over at me with concern and curiosity. My eyes skipped on each of them like a rock on water, identifying each one as I did. _There was the Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkguy, Thor, of course Ironman, as well as Agents Hill and Rhodes,_ I thought as I struggled to remember every name. As my eyes scanned the scene, I saw that Thor’s hammer was set in the center of the coffee table that everyone had gathered around. I squinted at the scene for a moment before my eyes grew wide in fear. I knew this, I knew what this was. I recognized it.

“Miss?” Steve asked again, reading the shock written plainly across my face.

“You all weren’t trying to life that hammer a second ago were you?” I asked not shifting my eyes from the weapon in question.

“Yes we were, that was probably what you heard when you came in.” Steve’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Is that what’s bothering you? Is that the problem?”

“That’s not my problem, but it’s about to be yours.” I replied as my heart fell to my stomach like a stone and everyone in the room stiffened, casting worried glances at each other. Even Steve stood up looking at me with a new suspicion.

“Look, I can’t explain right now, but you all need to prepare to fight because something is going to come through that door,” I looked pointedly at the door way on the side of the room, “And it’s not going to be friendly.”

Steve’s hand dropped from my shoulder as he stepped away from me and I swear I could feel the gaze of every eye in the room.

“Are you threatening us, miss?” He asked, the question clear and authoritative.

My response died on my lips as a different voice came from the far doorway.

“No, she’s warning you. Not like you’d know the difference…” Every head snapped towards the intruder, as it limped into the room, but only I knew it’s name: Ultron.

“How could you?” It patronized, “You’re all killers.” It stood in the doorway, a robot, missing the majority of one of its legs, leaking oil from a tube that mimicked a vein. “I’m sorry I was asleep— or I was a dream…” it continued.

“Tony,” Steve directed his stern words at the engineer but kept his eyes trained on the machine.

“This terrible, terrible noise” the robot’s voice strung words together as if each came with a new realization, “and I was tangled in- in strings…” It looked down at itself, watching dangling wires swing from side to side as it staggered back and forth. “Had to kill the other guy, he was a good guy…” I felt the whole room stiffen and I suddenly couldn’t breath.

“You killed someone?” Steve asked, stance wide, brows furrowed, and fists clenched at his sides.

“Wouldn’t’ve been my first call,” the answer was indirect and nonchalant, a another mimicry, this time of Tony’s signature scripts. “But down in the real world we’re faced with ugly choices.”

“Who sent you?” Thor asked. Instead of answering, the metal man tilted his head forward and proceeded to play a short audio clip of none other than Tony Stark’s voice: “I want to see a suit of armor around the world.”

“Ultron,” Bruce Banner came to the realization, throwing a look back at Tony.

“In the flesh.” A dark humor dripped from its every word, a sickening resemblance of the man who created it. “Wait no, not yet,” it corrected itself as it looked down at its makeshift “flesh” with disdain. “Not this Christmas. But I’m ready,” guns clicked under tables as the team prepared to fight, “ready to complete my mission.”

“What mission?” Agent Hill spoke up as she finished loading her gun.

“Peace in our time.”

The room exploded into action, two other bots came flying out from either side of the doorway that Ultron had emerged from, latching themselves on to Thor and Hawkguy as the other fought to get the off. I felt myself being pulled by my arm back through the doorway I had come through and shoved underneath the nearby bar. Once I was safely tucked away, I turned to find Steve’s piercing blue eyes as they met mine, his message clear: stay here.

I did not intend to do differently.

He ran back into the adjoining room, and I shifted myself towards the closest corner of the bar so I could see what was happening. Clashes of metal and grunts of effort could be heard from all over the room, and I could see people being thrown to the floor and metallic limbs being used as weapons as the fight raged in the New York Pent House. The team truly was amazing to watch, terrifying, but amazing. I was engrossed in their ability, watching Thor swing a hammer that I wouldn’t be able to lift— even if it _were_ just a regular hammer and not the Asgardian super weapon that only the worthy could wield. I saw Black Widow drop kicking robots and Agent Maria Hill bashing their heads into the floor. I wanted so badly to help, but I knew that I would only get in the way. Besides I had the comfort of knowing that this was not going to be a fatal battle.

I searched back in my head, trying to remember every detail of second Avengers movie. I never thought I’d be kicking myself about forgetting something that seemed so trivial. But now, the difference between what I could remember and what I couldn’t was life and death.

As I watched the fight from my spot under the bar, I hadn’t realized that one of the robots had gotten behind me through a hall way I hadn’t seen before. I felt its metal hand grip my shoulder and I shrieked as loudly as any other teenage girl could as I began to kick at the thing, getting a good shot at the base of its metal neck, stunning it into letting go of me long enough for me to scramble to my feet and stumble away from the bar. It followed me quickly and made another grab at me that I dodged with surprising ease, but on its next grab, it caught my right wrist and started to pull me towards it. I tried to retch my hand away, but it only tightened its grip, cutting off circulation to my fingers. I could feel the cold metal fingers cutting into my wrist and I screamed in pain, screwing my eyes shut as I felt a surge through my arm. I opened my eyes in time to see the robot fly away from me and hit the wall hard enough to make a dent, it’s body still twitching as licks of electricity wove through its body. I pulled my hand back to rub my bruised wrist as a movement by the doorway caught my eye and I turned my head to see Steve looking at me, bewildered and curious. The rest of the fighting had died down in the other room and only a few questions of “Are you alright?” and the disappointed realization that “They got Loki’s scepter,” could be heard alongside the shuffling of shattered glass, and I just stood there looking at a very confused Captain America who was obviously waiting for an explanation.

“I told you,” I began in a voice that betrayed my exhaustion, “it’s a long story.”


	3. Meet Your Heroes

I was made to wait in the remnants of the shattered living room while a very long and seemingly tense discussion went on elsewhere in the building among the teammates regarding Ultron and how he happened. I tried to remember what I could from this point in the movie. I remember Thor being extremely pissed at Tony, Steve being as passive aggressive as Banner was passive, claiming that the two scientist should take the fall for this one due to the fact that they had “created a murder-bot”.I closed my eyes and tried to remember more, but nothing would come. I sighed, exasperated and leaned back on the couch, careful to stay in the small section that had been cleaned of broken glass. _God, I should’ve just pirated the movie. Seeing it once in theaters was not enough to handle this._

After about thirty minutes of wall-muffled shouts the team crept back into the living room where I sat. They set up the rest of the damaged furniture, and sat on three legged chairs and a declining couch all facing me. That was when the interrogation started.

“So let’s start with who you are, and how you knew that was going to happen.” Tony Stark cut to the chase, as he was still pissed after having all his teammates berate him for creating a super villain.

“Well, the whole ‘how I knew that was going to happen’ part is a bit difficult to explain.” I began to trail off, getting less and less confident that anyone would believe my story.

“Just tell us what’s going on.” Banner said with a tired smile. I repeated the action, appreciating his kindness. I figured it would be best to start from the beginning, as that would probably be the _least_ confusing option. And anyway there wasn’tt exactly any other choice, so with a moment’s hesitation, and an anxious breath, I started my story.

“Well, I had been walking along the river…” I went through the events of the night, where I woke up, how I couldn’t call my parents, how I discovered my power to create electricity, when I realized that my family didn’t exist, how I got into the tower, everything that had happened up until I met them. “But here’s the weird thing,” I looked around at their curious expressions as they listened. I prepared myself for the reactions to my most jarring information. “Before I woke up here tonight, you guys, the Avengers, you were just a story.”

Several pairs of eyebrows raised at this new development.

“A story?” Clint, clarified with an incredulous laugh. “What do you mean by that?”

“Well, all of this was just a movie. Well, a movie based on a comic book. But that’s how I know what’s going to happen, I saw it all in the movie.” I sat forward on my chair, eager to convince the audience that I thought I was losing. “Please you have to believe me, I can prove it to you.”

“How?” Banner asked, although his question seemed to come more from suspicion than curiosity.

“Well I know things. About you. All of you.” I looked around the circle for emphasis before turning my attention back to Banner. “I know that after you fell out of the Helicarrier while fighting Loki you landed in this warehouse and met this nice man who felt like he needed to tell you that ‘you’ve got a condition’. That was in the first movie.”

His eyes widened as I recounted his expirence and he put his head between his hands. Many people in the semicircle around me had similar reactions to my information after seeing how it affected the Hulk, while others looked at me with narrowed eyes.

I doubled down, “And I know that Black Widow and Steve had to kiss to get away from Hydra agents in a mall.”

Steve and Natasha locked eyes across the room, but kept their expressions cool and collected as they continued their line of questioning.

“How can we know you haven’t just been spying on us?” Natasha asked, her eyes penetrating every word as it sailed through the air, as if to search the very syllables for secrets.

“I’m not.” I was panicked but desperate for them to believe me. There was no back up plan. “Really. I promise. I’m only seventeen, I’d have to be a pretty amazing spy to know everything that I know.” I grimaced at my own answer to her question, feeling like my nerves were only digging me deeper into the hole I was in. A hole that at the moment felt very much like a grave. Of course a woman who _was_ an amazing spy at seventeen would be suspicious of me. But Natasha sensed my nerves, and immediately seemed to dismiss any spy ideas. Instead she just smiled at me and reached over to give my leg a gentle pat. I was suddenly grateful for her nearness in the Avengers line up. At least I had an ally.

“And how do you want to explain all this?” Tony asked with a frown. He was the only one who really didn’t look like he was buying a word of it.

“Honestly, I was going to ask you guys that. I thought it might be some sort of parallel universe jumping thing, but you guys are the geniuses.”

“Stranger things have happened, Tony,” Thor’s heavily accented voice piped up, he was much more accepting of the new idea, after all people had no believed where he had come from either.

“I was hoping you could help me get home,” I could feel tears stinging in my eyes again. “I thought there might be something that you could do, build some sort of portal or something.”

Steve came over to me again, crouching on the floor and taking hold of one of my hands. “We’re going to help you, we’ll figure something out, ok?”

“But you need to focus on Ultron first,” I looked up at Tony and Bruce, his creators, “or he will kill everyone on this planet.”

Steve stood and addressed the rest of the group, “We’ll take care of it.” He said with a glare directed at Tony who only rolled his eyes, “Right now, Tony and Bruce are going to take her up to the lab and help her identify some of those powers that I saw earlier,” a knowing glance passed through the group. He must’ve told them while they were debating Ultron. “Everyone else is going to help me try to pinpoint Ultron’s next move—.”

“The salvage yard, on the African Coast” I said without missing a beat. All eyes were back on me and I shrunk back into my chair a bit as I felt the weight of all those looks on me. “He’ll be meeting with an arms dealer that Tony used to be,” I glanced at the bearded man briefly and chose my next words carefully, “acquainted with, the one from Wakanda. Ultron and his allies go there next to get vibranium.”

Steve’s eyes light up for half a second and the corner of his mouth shifted upward. “Tony will help me set a flight plan,” He said, he eyes never leaving mine. “You go upstairs. You have to learn exactly what your powers can do— it shouldn’t be guesswork. Besides,” he added with a grin that almost bordered on flirty, “I’m curious.”

———————————————————————————————————————

“It looks like you can manipulate the r squared in the denominator of equations of force,” Banner mumbled as he inspected the manilla folder holding the results of the brief test they had just run.

I thought back to my class notes a universe away. “But wouldn’t that mean I’d be able to control gravity too?” I asked.

Tony smirked, as he stalked into the room, clearly still pouting about the night’s unfortunate ending, but in a bit of a better mood than before. “The girl knows her physics equations.” He walked over to me and hopped up to sit next to me on the lab table. “I think I like this one— you know, Bruce, we should get more teammates with brains.”

“Well why don’t you try it, the gravity thing” Banner said, quickly changing the subject, his nose still buried in the pages of the report as he placed a beaker on the table across from me. I looked at it for a moment, hardly having to think before the glorified cup raised a foot above the metal surface of the table almost instantly. I grinned at my success and looked over to the impressed geniuses at my sides, causing me to lose focus on the beaker and send it crashing back on to the table with a loud and unpleasant clang as it fractured.

“Sorry!” I said quickly, feeling stupid about my mistake. But there was still the thrill of pride as I looked at what I’d done, and the two scientists seemed to share my excitement.

“Don’t be sorry, that was great!” Tony said simply, clapping me on the back. And heading out of the room. “I’ll grab you a uniform. The Capsicle’s gonna wanna get a move on soon.”

“A uniform?” My voice jumped at least two octaves above it’s usual frequency.

“Hey, don’t worry, you’re not going to be doing any of the actual fighting.” Banner reassured me. “We just want to keep you with us so you stay safe, and so you can give us any important information you can.” I nodded with wide eyes, trying to wrap my head around everything that was happening. “And by the way,” Banner called on his way out of the lab, “that beaker thing was pretty amazing.” He smiled as he left the room, his body silhouetted by the sun as it rose outside the wall of windows.

I rubbed my eyes with the tips of my fingers before carefully swiping under each lid to catch any stray eyeliner or mascara that had smudged during the night. _So those are the Avengers._ I tapped my fingers against the cool metal table as I surveyed the lab, waiting for Tony to return with my suit, but instead I turned to find Natasha walking into the pristine looking room.

“Compliments of S.H.E.I.L.D.,” she tossed a copy of the back suit she wore over to me, except it was noticeably less badass and had a the company logo of an eagle printed high on the left arm. “Look,” she said as she dragged a chair across the white room and swung a leg over it to straddle its back, “you look like a nice kid. I pride myself on being pretty good at reading people and you seem sweet. More importantly, you seem like you’re telling the truth, even though your story sounds insane, but this is a crazy world and who am I to doubt you when I’m having drinks with a God.” She smiled at me, and there was a sudden sisterly feel to the red headed woman. “I just wanted to come up and tell you,” she took my hand in hers, “that you have to trust us. We’re about to go into a situation that could get very dangerous and we’re bringing you with us, against my suggestion I might add, and I need to know that you’re capable of being a soldier,” her eyes flashed dangerously, a firm reminder that I was talking to a trained killer. “Do you understand?” I nodded slowly, meeting her eyes with the most sincere gaze I had. “Good,” She smiled again, “I’m not trying to scare you, but we need your help here. And I promise you, I’m not going to let you get hurt.” I smiled back at her and she nodded curtly, snowily she’d gotten her point across. “Alright, there’s a bathroom around the corner,” she pointed across the lab, “Why don’t you get changed in there.”

I nodded again. It felt like her presence was making me mute, I was so intimidated by her existence, but I found my voice again to turn back to her before I disappeared into the bathroom and she walked through the door. “Natasha?” she turned to face me, “Thank you, for being so nice to me.”

She smiled a sad sort of smile, the kind that didn’t reach her eyes, nodded, and left me alone in the lab, calling to me over her shoulder, “Come back down to the living room when you’re done.”

I stepped behind the bathroom door and slipped on the black body suit, zipping up the front. It fit like a glove, the forgiving fabric clinging in all the right places, even if it was a bit too long with the sleeves coming to the tips of my thumbs and the hem of the pants bunching under the heel of my shoes, still my wedge sandals. I made a mental reminder to ask for more suitable footwear as I cuffed the sleeves on the suit, kneeling on each leg to reach the edge of the pants and tuck them up into themselves. As I stood up from my crouched position on the floor, I was a bit astounded to see my reflection in the bathroom mirror. My hair had settled in its braid although some loose strands of hair fell over my left eye. My makeup had stayed remarkably intact, it was minimal to begin with, but there was no truly unfortunate smudging and my lashes still held a flattering curl. _Huh,_ I thought as the surprise settled in my body. It was strange to still look the same after all of this. A reminder that this is _me_ going through this. _I_ am here. And I look the same, I look _normal._ Almost like I’m getting ready to go to school every morning. I shook my head to clear the thoughts, _No, no I can’t think about school, or family, or what I’m missing._ I glanced back at myself in the mirror before opening up the bathroom door and making my way down to the large room that had held the battle between Avenger and robot.

When I got to the large room, morning light streamed from the corner of the North facing wall. The whole room seemed to look out to the city, the shine of uptown buildings with the dusting of first light bright on the horizon. I saw Widow sitting on the same couch that I had been interrogated on, the only thing in the room that was both upright and unbroken, at least not in any major ways, and Clint balanced on one of the three legged chairs beside her. The two assassins turned to face me as I came in, both regarding me with soft smiles that I returned as I asked for a different pair of shoes.

“Sure thing,” Clint said, looking down at my feet. “Yeah you cam’t exactly be on the field in those…. Sorry we didn’t think of that before. Nat, where do we keep the shoes?”

“I’ll go grab a pair, you wouldn’t be able to find them,” she said with a roll of her eyes as she swept out of the room. Clint shifted his focus back to me and nodded me towards the couch.

“I’m sorry this happened to you.” His words startled me, and I met his steady gaze, his eyes filled with worry and pity, “I can’t exactly build you a portal or whatever to get you home, but I’ll promise that I’ll keep you safe while you’re here.”

“Thank you,” I said quietly. I smiled at him, it was nice to be getting to know the team, even under these less than ideal circumstances.

A heavy footed stride from the left side of the room drew our attention away from each other as Thor came into the warmly lit room, outfitted in full battle gear. He walked over to the arrangement of furniture when he saw Clint and I and set himself, surprisingly lightly, on the couch next to me.

“Young lady,” he addressed me formally as I shifted my upper body on the seat to face him, “I wanted to thank you for agreeing to help us with your information, and to tell you that I am quite sorry for your unfortunate circumstances. I assure you that once this issue is resolved I will not rest until Stark and Banner have found a way to get you home.” His smile was warm and gentle, and as bright as the sunlight that reflected off his armor, and I returned it with fervor.

“Alright, I went with boots. I guessed about a seven and a half or an eight for size right?” Natasha appear from the far hall carrying two shoe boxes, one in her hand and the other wedged between her hip and her arm. She perched on the arm of the couch between me and the chair that Agent Barton was occupying as she handed me both of the boxes.

“Eight is perfect!” I reached for the top of the first box and found two knee high black boots made of the same soft leather that adorned the joints of the suit I had on, as well as a pair of white knee high socks. I rolled up my pant legs as I pulled on each sock, alerting the team members to all the excess fabric that I had gathered around my wrists and ankles.

“Do you need a smaller suit?” Clint asked stifling a grin.

I raised one eyebrow and saluted him with a playful glare, “It only has to last me a trip in the jet, so I think it’ll be fine for now.” Natasha and Thor chuckled softly as I zipped up each boot and sat back on the couch, looking at the, maybe not worry free, but happy looking Avengers on either side of me.

“Alright, it’s time to go. We’ve got a lock on the location thanks to (YN)’s intel.” Steve called as he walked into the room, stopping short when he saw the small smiling group in the middle of the living room. His eyes found mine and regarded my outfit with a nod, “Looks like you’re ready.”

“God, I hope so.”


	4. The Salvage Yard

I sat between Dr. Banner and Thor on the jet, all the seats facing the center of the aircraft. I had to take another moment to convince myself that everything was around me was real. The large man to my left, who was literally a god. The Genius across the aisle, who was setting up fight plans with an AI system in his glasses. The Super Soldier. The Master Assassin. My head started to spin again when Banner, sensing my sudden panic as the jet assented, grabbed my hand, giving it a firm squeeze to reassure me. He seemed to know exactly how to calm me down.

_I suppose he’s had a lot of practice_.

“So what are we going into Sparks?” Stark asked.

“ _Sparks?_ ” My eyebrows shot up in disbelief. _Really? That’s the name I’m going to get stuck with?_ I heard Clint _giggling_ in the other side of the jet and I shot him a look I thought was dangerous but it only seemed to make him chuckle more.

“Ignore them,” Steve said glaring at Tony, still very pissed that he had gotten the team into this mess. “Do you know what’s going to happen?”

I settled back in my seat and tried to recall everything that I could about what was about to happen. “You’re going to run into the twins again, the Maximoffs and Ultron are together,” I felt blood raising to my cheeks as I thought of the elder Maximoff who I had a bit of a huge crush on after seeing the movie, but quickly forced myself to focus on recalling the events in as much detail as possible. “The girl, Wanda, she’s going to try to make you see things, give you visions of your past or fears for your future, and her brother, Pietro is basically going to zoom around and fuck with all of you.” I received a few startled looks at my use of the expletive, but no one said anything against it. I continued, “In the end, Clint is the only one that doesn’t get his mind messed with cause he puts one of those electric arrows to Wanda’a head, but that just pisses Pietro off so he throws him around for a bit before leaving with his sister. But here is the important part.” Everyone shifted forward in their seats to hear the key to their upcoming mission, but I just turned to Banner, looking him dead in the eyes and saying “It is _not_ a code green.” I could see his eye darken as he gave me a solemn nod before focusing his eyes on his lap.

“Well alright then,” Steve’s tone was curt and direct as the jet made contact with the earth. “Let’s move out.”

———————————————————————————————————————

Bruce Banner and I were given strict orders to stay put in the jet, although we were allowed to stand in the doorway to check out the situation, if I could even call it a doorway. The back wall of the jet had flipped open, making a ramp from the plane to the ground and I was allowed, after much debate in the team, to stand on the ramp as long as I stayed under the roof. I was given a headset to communicate with the team as well as a very high tech looking pair of binoculars that Tony handed to me with a casual “Don’t press the red button” which was met with questioning looks from both me and Bruce which were answered with a “Just don’t press it”. That was when Bruce and I decided to tape a discarded bottle cap over the button in question, just in case.

“Hey,” I heard from the front of the jet as I stood on the ramp at the back with my hands glued to the sides of the binoculars, waiting to see something other than the massive boat that housed the team.

“Yeah?”

“I was just wondering what I did. You know, in that— that movie thing you were talking about. When I was the other guy….” His voice was laced with guilt for things he hadn’t done, as if he was disappointed in himself for having the capability of doing anything at all.

I turned to face him and saw him hunched over in one of the seats facing the center of the plane with his elbows resting on his knees, a look of utter devastation adorning his face. I walked over to him and sat in the seat beside him. “You threw some cars and crashed into a building,” you said bluntly, “but you didn’t hurt anyone, and Stark kept you pretty under control. The real injury was some bad publicity and some serious emotional trauma for you.” He sat back in his seat and met your gaze.

“No one got hurt?” His worry had turned to disbelief.

“Aside from a few scraped knees and bruises, no. Nothing major. Hand to God.” Irested my hand on his leg, just as he had done for me on the way here. We exchanged a smile before being shocked back to reality by a chorus of noises coming from the ship next to us. We both ran to the open hatch to see the whole lot of nothing that was happening.

“What I wouldn’t give for x-ray vision right now.” I muttered as we stared at the blank hull of the ship, desperate for answers.

“Is electricity not enough?” Brace asked totally deadpan, and I would’ve laughed if I hadn’t known that the rest of the team was undoubtably writhing in pain within the metal walls of the ship. I hesitantly pressed the green button on the side of the head set that Clint had given me and heard a cacophony of violent sounds coming from the speaker resting in my ear.

“Is everything alright guys?” I asked hesitantly, not wanting to distract anyone from defending themselves against Ulton’s forces.

“Oh yeah, it’s just fine in here,” Clint replies, but I could hear the strain in his voice as he attempted to talk calmly while he fought whatever he was up against at the moment. Banner’s eyebrows furrowed at the sight of my worried face.

“Hey, I know these guys, everything’s going to be fine,” he reassured me even though I could still see him glancing out to the boat every so often with the same worried expression that I wore.

“But what I’m wrong? What if I missed something, and they went in completely unprepared?” Guilt sat on my chest as I fought to breath.

“Do you think those guys are ever really unprepared?” His smile was evident in his sly words. It made me smile a bit myself, knowing that this kind of attitude was uncommon in the man who shared a body with the Hulk. _He could be destroying a city right now,_ I thought with a spike of pride, _but instead he’s here with me. I did that._ My smile widened, and I was about to bring my eyes up to look at the tall man beside me until something by the base of the ship caught my eye. I snapped my gaze forward to focus on the irregularity in my sight only to see a thin and fading stripe of blue leading from a small door in the hull of the grounded boat to a point along the horizon.

“It’s over, they should be coming out soon.” I said leaning against the wall of the jet and rubbing my eyes, as if all the fighting inside the ship had taken as much as my energy as it had the team’s.

“Just like that? How do you know?” Bruce squinted at the blue streak that was near nonexistent at this point.

“That was Pietro Maximoff carrying his twin Wanda. From what I remember they’re the last of Ultron’s guys to leave the battle.” I started walking down the ramp, “And at this point I’m pretty sure all of our guys are unconscious except Clint…” I pressed the green button on my head piece again. “Clint?”

There was a drawn out grunt. “Yeah?”

“How much are you hurting?”

“Who me? Naw I’m fine.” At least he was well enough to be sarcastic.

“Banner and I are on our way to help you guys out ok? Believe it or not, I think you’re gonna be the easiest to patch up.” I turned back to see Banner lurking in the shadow of the jet, hesitant to go out into the open when we had been given strict orders to stay put. I waved him forward as I turned back around and walked towards the door of the ship that I gad seen the blue streak emerge from before.

Banner shook his head as he watched me walk across the field to the ship, he smiled to himself nervously before he chuckled at my forwardness and followed me into the sunshine to retrieve the members of his team.

———————————————————————————————————————

I helped Natasha through the jet’s hatch, having to haul her up the ramp as she tried to find her feet after deciding that using my new found talent for gravity manipulation on a person may not be the best idea. Behind me Bruce was helping Steve and Clint support the massive god of thunder, his lips pursed in effort. I set Natasha down as gently as I could, my arms shaking as I eased her into the nearest chair. Bruce and Clint followed suit, the archer plopping into a chair beside the God as soon as he rid his shoulder of the weight. I walked over to him to sit beside him, looking at his tightly closed eyes in concern.

“How awful do you feel?”

“Just got thrown through a window and landed hard on my right arm, but I’ll be fine. I’ve had worse don’t worry,” He finished with a chuckle. I gently pried the injured arm from where he had been clutching it to his chest. He peaked at me through the lashes of his right eye as if that was the extent of his mobility.

“Relax I just want to look at it,” I rolled my eyes at him before focusing my attention back to his arm. “I am First Aid Certified ya’ know…” It was his turn to roll his eyes as I turned his arm over in my hands, “It looks swollen, you should ice it.” I scanned the Jet for a First Aid Kit before spotting one above the seat directly across from mine. I stood to get it, but before I could take a step the attention of all the conscious and even some of the semi-conscious occupants of the jet was shifted to the open hanger door where the Ironman suit stood, silhouetted against the sun lit field, and carrying a semi-conscious, very dramatically draped Tony Stark in its arms. The glares he got from the rest of the team shot lasers that would’ve melted the metal suit holding him had they been more than metaphorical.

I suddenly understood the team’s frustration with the man. I huffed and crossed the jet, tearing the Kit off the wall and stomping back to Clint. I quickly unzipped the red pouch as the suit set tony down in a chair next to Bruce who was holding Natasha’s hand firmly and was more than a little unhappy with Tony’s head now lolling on his shoulder as he pretended to be out cold. I took an ice pack of of the kit zipping it quietly before slamming the pack against the arm of my chair loudly making Tony jump a foot out of his chair while everyone else looked over alarmed by my action at first, but quickly turning their attention to Tony’s souring glare and grinning in appreciation.

“Sorry,” I said with false innocence, “I needed to activate the chemical to make it cold. You know that right Tony?” I smiled sickeningly sweetly at the metal man as he grumbled and attempted to snuggle back into Bruce who shoved him off with an annoyed look. I handed the ice pack to Clint who took it with an appreciative grin.

I’m still not sure if it was for the pack or Tony’s reaction.

It took a while for everyone to come around. Aside from Tony, Clint, Banner, and I, the rest of the team was shaken beyond belief. There were many ice packs and water bottles passed from person to person before Clint decided that it could be dangerous to stay put any longer and they better move to a safe house.

“So what happens next Sparks?” I shot a glare at the Captain who had the decency to look a bit bashful through the ice pack that covered his left cheek bone.

“Well in the movie, Agent Hill recommends we go to a safe house.” I said simply.

“But where? That’s not too specific.” Clint called from the front of the jet, obviously regaining more and more of his sense of humor as his body healed itself. “Do you remember where this safe house was?”

I narrowed my eyes at the cheeky nickname, trying to hide a grin, “Actually Clint, it was somewhere you know very well, somewhere you actually suggested.” I raised an eyebrow at him for effect, ignoring the fact that his back was facing me, but the rest of the team saw my mysterious look so I suppose the effort wasn’t completely wasted.

“Oh. Damn. Fine, alright I’ll set a course.” I was glad that he understood so immediately; it would’ve been awkward to explain further.

“Remind me why we can’t just go back to the tower?” Tony whined from the two seats he had spread himself over.

“Because your damn robot destroyed it Tony and could come back to kill us in our sleep!” Steve fumed and stood, looking like he was ready to throw the man out of the plane sans his suit.

“Language, Rogers,” Natasha scolded absentmindedly, her glare was fixed on Tony, “We did just go over this, you might want to pay attention as we go against the problem you made.”

“I was helping, enhancing my field,” he mumbled, defending himself.

“You were out of your league and you know it!” Steve yelled, going towards Tony with serious force.

“Hey!” I stood from my own seat and suddenly all eyes were on me, I felt the urge to shrink back, to pull my hair our from behind my ears and let it curtain around my face, but I stood my ground. “I know you don’t really know me and I know it’s not my place to say anything,” I swallowed hard to prepare myself to continue, “but I know you’ve all been through hell, and maybe you can agree to kill Tony for being a little shit later?”

Although Steve wasn’t particularly happy with my suggestion, he backed down, still fuming, to find a chair as far from Tony as possible. Natasha crossed the jet, passing me with a weak smile as she sat next to Steve, speaking to him in hushed tones to rationalize the murderous thoughts running through his head. Meanwhile, I moved to take Natasha’s place next to Banner who I found myself growing more and more attached to.

“You did a good job, that could’ve gotten… messy.”

“Thanks,” I relaxed back into the chair, “I’ve had a lot of practice defusing tension.”

“Really?” He took of his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose, “How’s that?”

“I have brothers, I got really good at mediating.” I felt tears start to pick at the corners of my eyes, I missed them. My stupid wonderful brothers were making me miss them. I was starting to forget my own issue after spending so much time with the heroes. I turned back to the scientist, “Do you think you can get me back home?”

I could see sadness grow in his eyes, “I don’t know. I honestly don’t. We can try to reverse the process, make a portal of some sort. If you got here, it must be possible to get back, but I don’t know how exactly to make it work.” It felt like my stomach was being swallowed by his words which must’ve showed on my face because he hurriedly grabbed my shoulder and met my eyes with a firm look, “But I promise we will try, we will do anything and everything we can to help you. I promise.”

I nodded as a tear slipped down my face. I let his arm snake around my back as I leaned my head on his shoulder, snuggling in to him as Tony had tried to before, but instead of shaking me off he pulled me close and pressed his lips to the top of my head. “We’ll take care of you, I promise,” he murmured into my hair as I felt myself drift into a dreamless sleep.


	5. The Safe House

I woke up in a quaint dark room that reminded me of the room I would sleep in at my grandma’s house. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, enjoying the feeling of the soft covers that cocooned me. I looked back in my memory, trying to remember how I got to this little room in this little bed, but the only thing I could remember was Thor lifting me from my seat in the jet and telling me to rest.

I must’ve complied with his request.

I threw the covers off my body, finding that I was still in the S.H.E.I.L.D. uniform that I had fallen asleep in. Swinging my legs out of bed, I leaned forward to pull back a white eyelet curtain to see a small field edged by a deciduous forest. I stood and made my way to the door of the room when a saw a pair of eyes peaking into the room about three feet above the floor. I smiled and pulled on the worn brass door handle, urging the door open slowly as more and more of a little boy was revealed standing bashfully in the hallway.

“I was in the hallway and I thought I heard you wake up.” He said, gluing his eyes to his bare feet on the hard wood floor as a blush spread across his face, joined quickly by a wide smile. I crouched down and lifted his chin with my right hand, returning his smile.

“It was really nice of you to come and welcome me then.” His smile grew even more, if that was possible. I had always loved kids, and I’ve always been pretty good at dealing with them, if I do say so myself. “Do you think you can show me where everyone else is?”

He nodded eagerly, grabbed my hand, and started leading me down the hallway and a flight of spiral stairs, refusing to let go of me until we had come to a large living room where he ran into the arms of Clint, his father.

“Well look whose back from the dead!” Clint said with a smile as he hoisted the young boy onto his hip.

“How long was I out?” I asked the group, making my way over to an empty spot on the couch between Captain America and Dr. Banner.

“16 hours,” Steve said from his seat next to me.

“ _16 hours!_ ”

“We were wondering if it was some sort of side effect of you universal transportation or something,” Tony mentioned slyly from across the room.

“Oh lay off her, Stark,” A very friendly looking woman rounded a corner coming into the room with a plate of steaming hot pancakes in one hand and a glass of water in the other. “You must be starving,” she placed the plate and glass on the coffee table in front of me, “I’m Clint’s wife, Laura, and I hope the pancakes are alright, I popped them in the microwave to warm them up, everyone else already had theirs.”

“Thank you so so much,” I could’ve kissed the woman there and then. I hadn’t eaten since I had lunch back before I switched universes, so about two days.

“Mommy, you forgot the fork!” A strawberry blond girl came around the corner following the footsteps of her mother carrying a very sweet toddler fork with a handle printed with little flowers and bees.

“Thank you sweetheart,” her mother exclaimed as she took the fork from the helpful child and gave it to me.

“Yes thank you so much!” I repeated to the little girl who gave me a similar smile as her brother had before. I did my best not to dive into the pancakes to hastily, worrying that overeating now might have unpleasant repercussions later. I began to chip away at the pancake stack with my little fork, eating slowly and carefully, enjoying each bite.

“So we have the rest of the day here,” Steve began as I ate my breakfast, “but tomorrow morning we’re off to-“

“Seoul, right?” All eyes turned to me, as if they had forgotten that I knew what was going to happen.

“Huh, guess she really does know what’s going on,” Laura said calmly, but her expression gave away her amazement.

“I do, and I can help more than that.” I turned toward the team. “I was actually wondering if any of you would be willing to help me practice with my powers,” I recommended gently, “To be honest, you could use my help in a situation like this.”

“You don’t actually expect to go out and fight do you?” Banner asked, incredulous. “You’re just a kid.”

“I second the rage monster’s motion, there’s no way she’s gonna fight. What if something happens to her?” Tony felt the need to weigh in.

“I can fight,” I said, “I want to help you guys and it’s hard to do that from the sidelines.”

“There’s no way I’m letting you near a battle,” Steve stood and declared, “End of discussion.”

“And who the hell said you get to make her decisions for her?” Natasha said, now standing as well. “I don’t like it either, but she has the right to make some decisions for herself.”

“She’s seventeen!”

“Says the guy who tried to enlist in the army underage with a list of medical problems a mile and a half long on _three separate occasions_!” I yelled as close to his face as I could get. His eyes widened. “How the hell do you know that? That was never on record.”

“I told you, it was all in the movies,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “I am in far better shape to fight than you were at seventeen, _and_ I have super powers, you’re in no place to say I’m not allowed to help, I mean who are you my dad?!”

“We can’t have you getting hurt,” Banner stood and put his hand on my shoulder, “I promised remember.”

“I see no issue with the young lady fighting.” All eyes were suddenly on the God of lightning, “In Asgard, people are fighting at a far younger age.”

“To be fair, you are talking about people who have been trained all their life,” Clint pointed out.

“Ok, you guys have a point,” I decided to be reasonable, “but I still need to learn how to use my powers, and then maybe I can fight from a distance.” I tried to reach a happy medium to please all the arguing parties on the matter. There were questioning glances sent and received around the room before Steve spoke up.

“You will train with your powers tonight and if, _only if_ , we think you’re ready, you can fight, _from a safe distance_. Good?” He looked around the room to see only approving looks and nods.

“Great,” Nat said with a cat-like grin, “then we better get started.”

———————————————————————————————————————

“Try again, maybe a bit more controlled ascent and less rocket to space,” I could tell that she was trying to be helpful, but by the end of her sentence she was fighting chuckles along with the other Avengers as they sat on stumps on the edge of the field where I was practicing. The idea of the exercise was to lessen the force of gravity on one of the many logs that the Captain and Stark had chopped earlier that day so that it would hover a few feet above the ground at a steady position before letting it fall back to the ground, but so far I had only succeeded in launching said logs into the sky with such velocity that not one had come back down. Banner placed the next log in the pile on the ground a few feet in front of me before returning to his seat on the stump next to Natasha with an awkward glance at the Widow which she undoubtably noticed but refused to react to. I focused on the log in front of me, squinting at it as I pictured it rising agonizingly slowly, but the wood only shot up like the rest of them. I huffed in frustration.

“Look at that one go,” Clint whistled and shielded his eyes his eyes from the evening sun as he watched it fly.

“How inspiring to see it reach for the stars. A dream come true really.”

“Shut up, Tony,” Steve looked over to you with a slight smile as he stood up from his stump, “Just keep trying, you’ll get there soon.”

“Not soon enough to fight with you tomorrow,” I grumbled.

“We just want to make sure you’re safe,” the Captain sighed, “I’m gonna head inside, it’s getting late. Good luck.” With a second glance back at me and the rest of his team he turned and walked back towards the house and barn across the field.

“You heard the man,” Nat said, turning my attention away from the super soldier and towards the next log that Banner had placed in the place of the other 30 that had burned up on their way out of the atmosphere. I waited for him to move away from the log before I started to work on raising it, but before he had moved a safe distance away, he turned around and looked back at the cylindrical piece of wood and then at me.

“Maybe you should try concentrating less,” he suggested with a squint. “The more you focus, the more energy you’re giving the upward trajectory. Try just not thinking about it, just let it happen.”

“Ok, cool. Solid plan,” I said wiping sweaty palms on the pants of my uniform. I looked at the log in confusion. _Relax. Just let it happen._ I closed my eyes and sat on the sun warmed grass, enjoying the gentle prickling of its tips on my hands as I leaned back on them. My eyelids drifted open and I let my gaze fall on the wood in front of me. _Relax_. I cocked an eyebrow at the log and it quivered in its position. As I slowly raised my other brow to meet the first, the log began to raise, slowly, but steadily. A surge of excitement shot through me at my progress which made this log shot up into the sky with a greater velocity than all the rest.

I groaned and fell back on the grass, covering my eyes with my hands. _I’m never gonna get this right,_ but to my surprise I heard applause. I opened my eyes to the sight of hands, brows, hidden from the team’s view, but furrowed in confusion nonetheless. I sat up and set my sight on the peanut gallery to my right to find them looking amused and impressed.

“That was better than ever,” the words oozed out of Tony’s bemused smirk. “That’s not saying much but- _oof.”_ He was roughly elbowed in the ribs by Thor, leaving him breathless and folded over his legs.

“You’ve done well,” the god boomed as he beamed with pride.

“That was a lot better,” Bruce said with a smile. “Maybe next time you should…” The conversation concerning my newfound powers circulated around the team, everyone piping in with a new idea on how to best bend gravity to my will. By the end of an hour I had not only levitated a log at a steady three feet in the air but also returned it to rest on the ground slowly and safely. It was an achievement for the whole team, with high fives and congratulations all around.

“Maybe you’ll be able to fly,” Clint suggested. “I mean if you can do this why can’t you just manipulate the force of gravity on yourself.”

“But she could also launch herself into oblivion,” Banner mentioned with a worried stutter. “Maybe human trails aren’t the best idea until we’ve had some more practice.”

“Nonsense, let her start now! We are at war and we will need her assistance soon,” the god of thunder insisted. “She cannot harm me with her power, let her try.”

“Are you crazy? I don’t want to hurt you!” I backed away from the large blond man in fear of his confidence in me.

“He’s right though,” Nat pointed out. “You can’t hurt him.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to try,” Clint said in passing as he nursed a beer that he had grabbed during the exchange of ideas earlier in the night.

“Unless you think you can’t do it and can’t fight with us tomorrow, Sparks.” Tony said, walking over and standing so that he could look down at me, making me feel even smaller than usual. I glared at the billionaire genius playboy philanthropist as I walked towards the center of the field, eventually having to shift my gaze to Thor, inviting him to join me in the green area that would surely be his last contact with Earth. At least for a while.

“Do not look so perplexed,” the Asguardian reassured me with a carefree grin. “I trust in you and your abilities.”

“That makes one of us,” I murmur to myself, planting my feet on the firm ground and relaxing myself as I had before. I looked at the large man and raised an eyebrow as I had before, expecting some sort of movement, but seeing nothing. I looked back at Banner with confusion.

“He has more mass than one of those logs so the force of gravity is going to be greater, harder to negate,” he reasoned. I nodded to signal my understanding and turned my attention back to the god this time focusing more of my energy into his movement, and slowly he began to rise. I heard whoops and hollers over my shoulder but I kept my eyes trained on Thor, continuing to increase his altitude to six feet before bringing him back down to the ground. I turned to the rest of the team, my entire body tingling with excitement when I saw Steve standing back with the rest of the team an approving half smile. I felt myself blush under his gaze and I swear my smile stretched a mile long before my eyes shifted to a man standing next to him, someone I knew but hadn’t yet met.

“Great,” Director Fury said. “Really great. Now how’s the electricity going?”

———————————————————————————————————————

The character that had been so convincingly brought to life by Samuel L. Jackson insisted on sitting my down in the barn for a “little chat” before continuing my training. I settled myself on a bale of hay as he swung an identical bale around and took up a similar position facing me.

“Now Cap told me quite a bit about your current situation,” the one eyed man began.

“That’s interesting…” This seemed to pique his interest.

“Why’s that?”

“It’s just that in the movie you talked to Tony in the barn, not Steve. I guess my being here is affecting more than I thought.” I said in a very matter of fact manner, meeting his piercing look with a placid one to hide my escalating heart rate. I could not have this man think I was suspicious. He leaned away from me on his seat, giving me his famous “I can’t fucking believe this” look. After a moment, he leaned his elbows on his knees, pitching the bridge of his nose with his right hand.

“Damn.”

“What sir?”

“I was hoping Steve was trying to prank me,” He looked up at me, still crouched over his legs. “You can’t honestly believe all this movie BS.”

“I don’t know what else I can believe, sir. At the moment all my proof leads to that conclusion.”

“And what proof is that?”

“I know things.” His eyebrows shot up.

“What kinds of things?” He was almost yelling at this point and his glare was hostile to say the least. It did not escape my mind that this was man possibly more terrifying than all the other heroes combined. I did not want to make him madder.

“Please, Fury, I’m sorry. I didn’t say that to sound threatening. I just—agh— I just want to go home and the only people smart enough to help me get there are on this team, but they can’t help me until they’ve dealt with Ultron and _I_ can help them with that!” I almost shouted the words in my panic as I tried desperately to calm the man in front of me. He seemed to understand my nerves as he held up a single hand to silence my ramble, all the while never losing eye contact with me.

“Slow down,” he gave me a reassuring, if not friendly, look, “I’m not gonna hurt you. I just need to know what you know.”

“But I’m not a spy or anything. I promise sir. If I were I wouldn’t be helping you, I wouldn’t even be trying to-“

“Stop.”

My voice caught itself in my throat.

“What. Do. You. Know.”

“I know Agent Coulson is alive. There’s this whole spin off show about him and these agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. people.” He lifted his chin and leaned away from me, “I know you’ve still got the Helicarrier. I know Peggy Carter is still alive.” I stopped there for a moment, watched him take it all in. Watched as he realized that all the secrets he had dedicated his life to protecting were in the mind of some random teenage girl. “I’m telling you all this because I can help. I really don’t know all that much.”

“Oh really?” he scoffed. “That is your idea of ‘not all that much’?”

“I’m just trying to help. I know what’s going to happen next. Please, believe me.” I felt myself near tears again, desperate for this powerful man to trust me. He looked at me through narrowed eyes before looking up for a moment and shaking his head.

“God help me but for some strange reason I do believe you,” he looked back at me. “Come on, lets get the team back up to speed. And finish your training. I want to see that lightning trick I’ve heard so much about. Who knows, maybe you’ll give Thor a run for his money…”

———————————————————————————————————————

By the end of the day I had not only successfully lifted the God of Thunder six feet off the ground, I had also managed to char a piece of fire wood to a crisp by shooting it with lightning from 60 paces and even lift myself above the ground an inch or two when Bruce Banner hadn’t been looking (he thought that it would be too dangerous). All in all, I was exhausted. By the time Laura called us in for dinner, Thor had to carry me inside because my legs simply refused to take me another step.

He didn’t stay much longer after that though, I remembered vaguely from the movie something about Thor heading off on his own for a bit. Once my feet were safely inside the threshold the house, the god bade the team a brief farewell, and shot into the evening sky, very much like the logs of earlier that afternoon.

After I filled the team in on what would happen in their next battle at Soul and seeing the progress I had made that day, the team had decided that I could accompany them to the fight. My pride swelled and I had only begun to thank them for agreeing when they added that my role would be to stay in the jet, and report to them from above.

“What?!” I nearly choked on my food before I could get the word out. “That’s ridiculous! You promised that I could _fight_ with you, not babysit!” I whined from my seat next to the two kids.

“That _is_ what you said, Steve,” Nat said through narrowed eyes from across the table.

“I know what I said, but— Damn it,” he rubbed his brow, trying to find words to defend his position as the Russia assassin stared daggers. “After seeing your powers today, I realized just how impressive they are, and just how untrained you are. You’ve never been in a real fight before, you don’t know what happens. I’ve seen men forget everything they’ve ever learned in the middle of a fight and run from the hills. I’ve seen men accidentally shoot their best friends. You are insanely powerful, and we can’t risk you getting spooked with your— gifts. If you aim wrong, one of us could get fried, and I can’t put the rest of my team in that position.” His voice had risen exponentially throughout his rant; by the end of it he was practically screaming, not out of anger, but out of desperation. Like he couldn’t stand seeing someone on the team hurt.

My heart filled with guilt. Of course, they couldn’t let me fight with them. I couldn’t believe how selfish I had been. I sank back in my chair, “I’m sorry. I didn’t think about it like that. I understand.” I looked up at him with a small, sad smile, still embarrassed by my inconsiderate complaining. “If you guys don’t mind I think I’m going to go upstairs and go to bed. I’m tired after today.”

There were polite, if disappointed, nods around the table, signaling the approval of my departure. As I scooted away from the white, lace-trimmed table cloth and headed towards the stairs, Steve’s voice caught me once more.

“You did amazingly well today. And we will need you soon. I just can’t see you hurt.” I looked back at him to see that he had a stern look on his face, I could tell he wasn’t joking. This was’t a compliment from friend to friend, this was a statement from a commanding officer. I smiled as much as my weary muscles would allow.

“Aye aye, Cap,” I gave his a mock salute and walked up the stairs with dragging feet. I feel into the same bed that I had woken up in only hours before and sleep took me before my head hit the pillow.

———————————————————————————————————————

The next morning the team assembled on the jet without Thor, who was still “busy”, Tony, who was flying down to some internet station to figure out Ultron from there, and Fury, who claimed he was trying to dig up some old S.H.I.E.L.D. toys. I found a seat next to Natasha who looked tired and sad, even more so than the rest of the Avengers. She gave me a weak smile as I sat down and angled her body in the seat to face me.

“Hey, your powers are really coming along,” she brushed her short red hair away from her eyes, “I’m sorry you can’t be in the field today.”

“It’s alright, come to think of it, it’s probably for the best,” I really had come to terms with the order, I’d much rather stay safe in the jet rather than endangering someone in the field, but I hadn’t joined the Widow to talk about my training.

“Listen,” I started, my voice laced with tones of warning that caught her attention, dark eyes locking with mine, “Be careful today. I don’t want to worry you, in the movie you’re fine, but you do end up getting captured at the last minute trying to transport the cradle to the jet, and that might be avoided…” I trailed off as she nodded her understanding. “I’ll be in your ear piece the whole time from up here with Clint, I just wanted to give you a heads up, ok?” She smiled the same tired smile she had showed me earlier in our conversation.

“Thanks for the info. It’ll all be fine, besides I wouldn’t want the fight to be too easy,” she said with a playful smirk that I quickly returned. “And you say that the twins are going to join us in the fight against Ultron?” She asked to clarify the information I had given the team last night.

“Yes, Wanda see’s Ultron’s true plan when he tries to upload himself into the body in the cradle.”

“So they fight with us.”

“Exactly.”

“Well this will definitely be interesting.”


	6. When the Fighting Gets Good

The fight in Soul went exactly as I had remembered. I called the shots from the Quinjet and watched helplessly as Steve stopped a train, and Nat was swept into enemy hands much to the distain of Clint. What little shots I could fire went misplaced and under powered as I tried my best to aid the team. The most I did was disrupt a few wifi signals. And maybe one minor blackout, but that was quickly forgiven.

Clint stormed into the penthouse of the Avengers tower as soon as the Quinjet landed. I ran after him, tripping on the landing as I tried to keep up with his long strides.

“Clint,” I followed him as he stepped through the elevator doors, and let them close behind us. He was fuming, visibly, and pacing the small space. “It’ll be ok, you know she’ll be fine.”

He rushed out of the elevator as the doors sprung open again, and again I has to jog o match his pace.

“Clint!”

He whirled around to face me, “I know, I know you know what happens— I know she’ll be ok. I know we’ll find her. But _I_ still let her down. _I_ still lost her. That’s on _me_. I know we’re all a team, I know we rely on each other but…” He trailed off, sadness replacing the anger in his eyes. “Nat and I, we always have each other’s backs.”

I nodded, content to have stopped him for a moment. “I know. I know she’d feel the same way for you.” I took a moment to catch my breath. “But I _can_ help you. I know where she is— or at least where she’s going to be.”

Clint’s eyes locked on mine, and his next word was on his way out of his mouth when I cut him off.

“Sokovia,” I told him. “She’ll be in Sokovia.”

In an instant he clasped my face between his hands and placed a firm, fatherly kiss on my forehead before turning and running off into the building.

_Great,_ I thought. _One problem solved._ I walked into the living room and turned my face towards the window of the science lab a floor above. _Now for problem two._

By the time I got upstairs, Tony and Bruce were already unloading the cradle into the lab. When they heard the door shut behind me, the both of them froze, wires and tablets in hand, looking at me like caught children.

I rolled my eyes. “Relax, I know you guys are both thinking about turning this… thing into the _intended_ Ultron, and I’m not here to stop you.”

Tony looked at me cautiously, flicking his eyes to Bruce for approval. But Bruce just hung his head. “Yes, we’re thinking about it, but with the way things went last time—.”

“That won’t happen again. Trust me.”

They didn’t seem convinced.

I sighed, “Or don’t trust me— look, all I’m saying is that you should go find the rest of J.A.R.V.I.S. and upload him into this thing, and then Thor is gonna come swooping in with the magic ingredient and everything is gonna work out great ok?”

“Wait the magic— wait what?”

“Bruce, there is no time to explain, just— just start your scienceing!” I met his confused gaze with reassuring eyes. “Trust me.”

I could tell he wasn’t convinced, but flanked by Tony and me, his conscience didn’t stand a chance.

By nightfall the upload was nearly finished, but there was a nervous Steve pacing the halls.

“I can’t believe you’re letting them do this again.”

“Me? I’m not letting them do anything, you’re the captain of the team. I just know this is the way things will work out.” I leaned against the wall across from him, arms crossed against my chest and my voice slow and steady.

“You’re damn right I’m the captain, and this— this is just—.” He sputtered looking for the right words. “Screw it I’m stopping this, one murder bot is _enough_.” He turned and stormed towards the lab doors but I stepped in front of him.

“Steve, please.” I looked up at him with pleading eyes. “I know you’ve only just met me but I haven’t been wrong yet! I know his will work out youjust have to trust me!’

In an instant a strong arm moved me effortlessly against the wall with an impact that was controlled, but definitely firm. “Trust you?” Steve asked, the authoritative voice of the Captain ringing through his usual tone. “After, what, three days?” He closed his eyes and tried to shake himself of his anger. “I’m sorry,” his tone was still firm, but his hold against the wall had lessened. “I do trust you, but this is a call I just can’t stand by.” He looked into my eyes, which undoubtably displayed my fear and worry, but also my disappointment, and I saw guilt cross his features. “I know you’re here to help but this is my team and I have to put an end to this.”

He backed away and left me sanding at the wall as he crossed to the doors of the lab and stepped inside. I took a moment to remember how to breath before finding my feet and setting off after him, down the hall, and into the lab.

But someone beat me to it.

Standing in front of me were not only Steve, Tony, and Bruce, but also Clint, and, to my surprise, the Maximoff twins.

_That was fast._

The day had passed faster than I’d thought and the lab in a moment had become a flurry of activity. Clint had sent Pietro collapsing through the glass floor of the lab with a single well placed bullet. The Captain approached Tony with a menacing glare, as Bruce hurried to type in the last bits of coding. Wanda Maximoff watched from the sidelines until she saw me, and made her own approach. I scurried back, the chaos infecting any logical reasoning I had left, and the look in her eyes scaring me like nothing else because she held the same fear in her eyes that I felt radiating through my entire body: the fear that she’d be hurt before she’d be believed.

In an instant she was in front of me, a glowing red finger to my temple and her powers flipping through my mind as they would the pages of a book. And I knew she didn’t expect what she saw. I watched her face turn from violent fear to abject horror as she saw what I knew, who I _was_. She stumbled away from me, her own fear now overpowering her— but before she could utter a single word, Thor burst into the room. Landing atop the cradle, he reached his hammer high and summoned a blast to lighting strong enough to knock all of us back and aimed it into the heart of the creature inside. A second blast rocked through the room as the cradle blew open, and from it flew the android, at lightning speed towards the far window of the room, where it stopped, and hovered over the skyline of New York City.

I let out a shaking breath and a half laugh, catching the eyes of everyone in the room including the newborn by the window. “Well everyone, meet your new teammate, Vision.”

———————————————————————————————————————

After the twins were called aside for a brief meeting with Tony and Steve to discuss what Ultron was doing and why they had come all the way to New York, they were quickly welcomed into the team. Like me, they were given their regulation uniforms, which they both turned down in favor of their normal clothes, and they were hurried onto the Quinjet with the rest of us, with Clint behind the wheel and the destination set for Sokovia.

I was nervous. I knew this fight, I knew how devastating it was. And I knew there was no staying back, there was no safety in sitting in the Quinjet, or even miles off site. The fallout of this fight had the potential to be even deadlier than the fight itself. And more than anything, I knew the team needed me on this fight. I couldn’t wish trying to tell them everything that happened. Not only was my memory of the details hazy, but the idea of preempting every action in a fight as complex and involved as this one; it could have dire consequences. No, instead it was my job to manage the dangers. I knew what they were, as long as everyone did exactly as they were supposed to. Then I could handle it. My eyes flicked to Pietro Maximoff, who sat across the jet, clutching his sister’s hand in his. _Yes,_ I thought, _then I could save them._

I stood from my seat and walked towards the front of the jet, the nerves jumping in my stomach. I looked out the front window at the sea of clouds, and the fear racked through me again. The idea of fighting, and worse, the idea of losing, shook me to my core. I turned away and leaned into the small refuge of the wing, hiding my worries behind the interior corner.

“Hey.”

The voice made me jump. I spun to find its owner.

“Sorry,” Steve put his hands up in mock surrender, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

I smiled through my nerves and shrugged it off, unable to find words that wouldn’t give my worry away.

“I wanted to apologize,” he continued. “That stuff I said earlier— I shouldn’t’ve said it—.”

“No, Steve, it’s— it’s fine.”

“No, it wasn’t.” That firm voice was back again, but laced this time with guilt and worry. “I should’ve trusted you. That’s what a team does. And we decided that you were a part of the team, you’ve proved yourself more than enough, and hell,” he smiled, “ya haven’t been wrong yet.”

I let out a small laugh, “Huh, yeah, yeah I’ve been pretty lucky.”

“Not lucky— smart.” He stopped and let his eyes run over my face. A wave of understanding washed over him. “You’re nervous.”

I nodded, but I wouldn't meet his eyes.

He sighed, “I’m sorry. You know you can stay behind.”

“I can’t—,” I looked up at him. “You need me there today.”

“Yeah, so you’ve said.” Steve reached a strong arm back to grip the back of his head. I saw his jaw clench in an attempt to quell annoyance. “You know I don’t like these odds. Hell I don’t even like sending the twins in on this mission with the lack of training they’ve had. Sending you in it just… it feels irresponsible.” He anticipated my protest, “But I know— I know we already had this conversation before. You’re going. And we’ll do our best to protect you, but,” his eyes flashed with worry, “you have to be careful. You have to promise me you’ll take no unnecessary risks. You’re there for _civilian evacuation_. That’s clear, right?”

I nodded.

“Ok. Good.” He took a step back, started walking towards his seat agin when he stopped and turned back to me. “You’re powerful. And smart. You’re gonna be ok.” He smiled at me again, and turned back towards his seat, coming chest to chest with Pietro Maximoff. The two caught each others eyes and communicated a passing suspicion before the twin broke away from Steve’s glare and made his way directly towards me.

He came close to me, standing just where Steve had stood and I could feel the rush of his powers beating through him. “My sister saw into your head.” The purr I had expected was gone, replaced with pointed honesty.

I nodded dumbly. It seemed like all I was able to do on this trip.

He leaned back as if to absorb the new information. “She said you know things.”

I nodded again.

He leaned in and looked me up and down, and suddenly that suave cockiness I had remembered from the silver screen fell on his features. With a sly grin he whispered, “Why don’t you tell me what you know?”

The blush that was rising to my cheeks was quickly interrupted by the sudden landing of the Quinjet, which shook me conveniently into the Sokovian’s arms. I apologized as I tried to steady myself off him, but I could feel his smirk widening as I grabbed his arms for support.

Clint broke through the two of us, throwing a harsh glare at Pietro. “We’re here,” he mumbled.

“I noticed,” Pietro replied, earning another glare, this time from the Captain. “I’ll have to see you after the fight then, yes?” He threw a wink behind him as he strode past me and towards the opening Quinjet door.

My heart started to sink again, but I found the strength to lift it out of my stomach.

_No,_ I told myself. _He will see me after the fight. He will make it out of the fight. I’ll make sure of it._

I didn’t have any more time to think or worry. This was it. With a breath, I left the Quinjet behind, and followed the team out into the light. Out into a battle.

———————————————————————————————————————

Dodging robots right and left, I gathered the last groups of Sokovian citizens from crumbling buildings. “This way!” I yelled, leading a young couple over a pile of rubble and towards the rescue ships that Fury had called in. I blasted a dried ahead of us with a jolt to fry its circuits as we ran past it and onto the waiting ship.

I saw Clint further down the cliff of the floating city, loading his own group of civilians on to the second rescue ship. I ran down to meet him, blasting one robot with a shot of energy, and shoving a second off the rock with a mental swipe.

“How many more do you have?” I shouted at the archer, as he lead the last of a small group into the aircraft.

“I think that’s it for me,” he replied, raising his voice above the chaos. “I’m gonna do another circle to check— but you can send the first ship off!”

I turned back towards the carrier I had been loading and signaled the pilot with a wave of my arms. The gates shut and the rescue ship flew off towards the rendezvous point outside the city limits.

I turned back to Clint. “Where’s the rest of the team?”

“Last I checked, some were still protecting the core at the center of the city— I know some of them peeled off to help with the evac, and some are covering the bots that are trying to leave the party early, but I don’t know who for sure.” He smiled, and gave me a hearty pat on the back. “You’re doing great, kid. We’ve got’em on the run.”

It was true, the bots seemed to be fleeing towards the edges of the city where they were getting picked off by Sam and Rhody, who had come to help with the fight. Ultron knew he’d lost. Now it was time for the retreat. But while the rest of the team celebrated the incoming victory, I remembered the danger that lurked in Ultron’s loss.

“I’ll try and help pick off the ones coming this way— but I wanna watch your back while you do your last round, ok?”

Clint nodded and took off running into the city again.

I stationed myself by the gates of the transport, eagerly watching for glimpses of Clint through the collapsing infrastructure. I cut off a number of bots mid-take off with a couple of shots, and I crushed a few more with a building that was really already coming down in the first place, I just kinda… helped a little bit. But I knew Sam and Rhody could handle the few strays that the team had let slip through their fingers; my main priority was watching for Clint and Pietro.

Within a couple of minutes, Clint returned, helping a mother and her children through the city remains. I cleared a path for them as well as I could, shifting small debris out of their way, and blasting any bots near them. The mother ran into the rescue, clutching her daughter behind her.

Clint came up next to me, “That’s the last of them.”

But behind us we heard the mother beginning to panic. We turned to find her searching for her second child, the one who had been following her just seconds before. Clint saw him before I could, waiting behind a fallen pillar watching the decimation around him with fearful eyes. In a second, Clint was running off to get him, crossing back towards the city, completely unaware of what I knew was coming.

As Clint grabbed the little boy, I saw a jet rising out of the corner of my eye. I knew this jet, I knew this moment. Clint was running back with the child when he saw it too, but it was too late. He had no cover, he was exposed. Up the side of the city’s edge I saw Pietro, impossibly far away, but coming towards us at nearly the speed of light, and I knew what came next.

Clint readied himself for the jet fire, shielding the child’s body with his own, and Pietro sped towards the archer, ready to lay down his life for his teammate. I saw a car, discarded, burning, like everything else, just in front of them, in between the jet and its target. With all the concentration I had I willed the car to rise, to block the fire, to save my team.

Or at least that’s what I thought.

In an instant, the car went soaring through the sky, crashing directly into the jet and sending it toppling into one of the few still standing buildings in the city, where car, jet, and building all sudden erupted into flames and collapsed into one big heap of smoking rubble.

I looked back to see Clint, Pietro, and the small child looking at the mess I’d made in confusion and awe, as if for just the briefest on moments, the fighting had stopped, and there was only this one fantastical explosion to amaze and entertain. But they quickly came to their senses and hurried back to the rescue.

“What now?” Pietro asked.

“Now we evacuate. The rest of the team has a ride, but we’ve gotta get off this rock now,” Clint stepped onto the transport and waited for us to follow suit.

“I have to get my sister,” Pietro started, already ready to speed away.

“No, wait,” I stopped him. “Check on the coms— I think she’s already evacuating with Vision.”

His suspicion stopped him, but another look in my eyes sent his finger flying to his coms where, sure enough, Wanda was safe in the arms of the one good android in the city.

Once he was sure she’d be safe, we coaxed him on to the transport with us, and set off, speeding away from the city as it exploded in a rain of rock and dust.

Pietro whistled as he wrapped an arm around me and leaned, dangerously, against the transport gate. “I swear, I’ve never seen fireworks like this.”

I let myself lean into him, my breath catching with the realization that he was still alive, and standing here, with me. And I thought that maybe, just for a moment, everything might be ok.


	7. A New Home

The end of the Battle of Sokovia marked a new era for the team. The Maximoff twins had both joined as Avengers converts, Sam Wilson and Rhodey came through as well, and the whole, extended team was greeted with the opening of a brand new facility in upstate New York.

Thor, Hawkguy, Vision, and I walked through the glass doors first, followed by Natasha holding Banner’s hand, the Maximoff twins and Steve with Stark trailing behind. One by one we stopped in awe of the crisp design of the new building, theglass walls giving it an open air feeling and a lightness that was amazingly welcoming.

“Of course, you guys will always be welcome at the Tower,” Stark began, the only one among us that refused to look at all awestruck as he walked through the doors, “but I thought this would be a more comfortable space for the team.” I didn’t disagree, before the Quinjet had landed on the pad next to the structure, we had gotten an aerial view of the Training Facility, and the thing was _massive._ Eventually we came to what looked like the eastern hub of the building, a series of stairs all winding around the inside of what seemed to be a circular hole in the building.

“This is the Hub of the building, if all roads lead to Rome, then this is Rome. Now most of the research is on the west side of the building,” Tony walked to the front of the group, gesturing to the left towards the swarms of scientists directing young interns carrying intricate looking machines over to the new, clean labs across the Hub. “A floor up you’ll find a state of the art weapons testing lab. Should be fun.” We followed him up one of the many sets of stairs to the second floor as he pointed out the lab in question. It was large, it put it mildly. In fact, It actually took up the entire building west of the Hub aside from a narrow walkway along its perimeter. I spotted a glass bridge leading from this building over to a second; one that was closer to the ground, but just as airy and light as the one I stood in now. I made a mental note to ask about it after Tony’s tour. We continued up the stair to the third floor. “This is mostly Top Secret storage and offices. Yawn. But, There is something very fun that I have yet to show you.” Iron man took a right, rounding the Hub as he lead us to the east facing end of the building. We followed him through a sliding glass door and found ourselves facing an entirely glass wall on a thin balcony overlooking a three story multipurpose training area. I had caught glimpses of the room on our way into the building because it opened onto the jet pad, but seeing it in all its splendor was a near religious experience. The team filed in behind me and seemed to have a similar reaction, either a quiet gasp or full blown whoops and hollers from Thor and Pietro.

“Hey!” A call from below caught the attention of the team. We leaned over the railing to see James Rhodes and Sam Wilson looking up at us in full War Machine and Falcon gear.

“Hey!” Steve yelled in response, a smile blooming on his face. He waved the two soldiers up to the balcony we stood on. They both flew up and landed with a clang between me and Steve, saluting him with mischievous grins on their faces before going in for bro hugs. It was on the rebound of one of said “Bro Hugs” that Sam very nearly stepped on me. I squealed as I tried to make myself small against the railing of the balcony to get out of the tall man’s way. He turned to me with an apology in his lighthearted expression.

“Oh I’m sorry miss-uh-“

I filled in the blank for him as I took the hand he offered and shook it smiling up at him. Rhodes turned to look at me as well, a glimmer of recognition in his eyes before they widened in realization.

“You were at Stark’s place weren’t you? The night Ultron came out to play. I thought I might’ve seen you on the field at Sokovia?”

I nodded earnestly.

“Gentlemen, this is (YN). Also a new member to the team, and a very helpful one at that.” Steve explained as he flashed his most charming smile at me, making me fight the urge to giggle and blush now that his warrior side had ebbed towards a more casual Steve Rogers.

Rhodes shuffled over to me on the balcony before extending a hand and introducing himself as “James, but most people call me Rhodey.”

“Rhodey, right got it.” I smiled politely, wondering if I should explain that I already know both their names because I’ve already seen their movies.

_Baby steps,_ I remind myself, and decide to stick to smiling and nodding.

“Alright, alright lets keep it moving. I’ve got a lot left to show you, now come on.” Tony ushered the now even larger group out the door and back to the Hub. “Now I’ll let you explore the top floor on your own time, It’s mostly just a rec. room for all the squints. But here comes the really fun part…”

He lead us back down to the second floor and walked us along the glass exterior of the building towards the covered bridge that I had seen before. I tried to catch glimpses of the adjoining building as we walked, but all the windows seemed to be at just the wrong angle to be seen into from the training center. I was also blocked by the wall of man that called himself Thor, who threw an arm around me, constraining me with a chuckle as I tried to strain my neck to see past him. We reached the bridge quickly enough, although the length of the building continuously surprised me, and walked across, coming to a set of metal doors section off this second building from the first.

“Welcome home,” Tony said as he pressed his left hand to a pad next to the door and it slide open with a grace that made me forget friction existed. We all filed into the smaller building, and into a room that immediately felt like an embrace. Both sides of the space were made of glass, so it looked like we were just floating in the forest. Across from the door was the avengers logo, on a screen so large it took up the entire wall. Once the entire team had come to a rest in the new territory, the screen flickered and the image shifted into a soft orange ball that rotated in the center, like a tiny sun.

“Welcome Avengers,” A soft voice rang through the corridor, loud, but not intrusive. It was pleasant and surprisingly familiar, and a huge step up from Siri.

“That’s F.R.I.D.A.Y.,” Tony explained, “Like J.A.R.V.I.S. but— well, not.” He reached back and scratched the back of his neck in an attempt to look nonchalant before continuing. “To your left are stairs that lead up to the third and fourth floors, and to your right is the hallway that leads down to the first floor. The second, third, and fourth floors are all residential so why don’t you all go up and claim rooms and I’ll meet you all down in the living room.”

Still awestruck, the team began to meander around the house, poking heads into various rooms. I went to the top floor, walking along the hallway the separated the rooms from the wilderness and ogled at the expanse of forest in front of me. I walked to the building’s end and opened the furthest door, revealing a large bedroom that took up the north end of the house. I didn’t do more than peak in before closing the door and turning to the one next to it. Opening this one I found a room similar in style, with clean modern lines and a generous window looking east, but different in proportions, being much smaller than the last. I slid myself through the narrow opening I had made and closed the door with a nearly inaudible click. Walking further into the room, I found a bathroom with a sizable shower and bath tub directly to the right of the door as well as a set of drawers along the right wall. Across the room was the head of a simple twin bed with white sheets laying along the window and a small bedside table holding a single silver lamp topped with a plain white shade. To be frank, the room had less personality than a Holiday Inn, but there was a quiet grace to its simplicity.

I laid down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. I could see out the window by lifting my head off the pillow just a few inches. The view consisted mostly of trees, but if I angled my vision correctly I could catch glimpses of the landing pad as well as what seemed to be an outdoor running track. Letting my gaze drift forward I found a range of mountains rising just above the tree line, Illuminated by the vibrant colors of the sunset across the sky. _Sunset?_ I thought, it was later than I had imagined. I sat up on the bed, letting the smooth cotton of the comforter swim under my hands as they glided across it.I cast another glance around the room and felt a swell of familiarity. It was comforting for a moment, like a hug from an old friend. I sank into the feeling and looked around the room again. It felt like home. The bed, the lamp, the walls- _wait, the walls?_ I stood up from the bed. _The walls? Why am I thinking about the wa- oh my god…_ The familiar feeling began to engulf me, suddenly it wasn’t a gentle hug, it was crushing the life out of me, tunneling through my windpipe and cutting off oxygen. The walls, the _grey_ walls, the exact same color of grey that I had convinced my dad to let me paint my room. This didn’t feel like home, this _was_ home. The grey walls, the white bed, maybe I had had a bit more embellishment here and there, but the resemblance between the my room and the one I was in now was enough to bring me to my knees with a solid sounding thud. I knelt there, trying to breath, body crumpled over my legs, unable to think straight. _Oh god, my family._ It had only been a few days since I saw them last. _Three days? Four?_ Suddenly I couldn’t remember. I had been so focused on the next step that I had lost sight of the bigger picture. I knew if I thought about the end goal too much I would be overwhelmed, so I had pushed it from my mind, just tried to think of the next step.

_It refuses to be ignored,_ I thought grimly as I fell to the floor, hugging my upper body to my thighs in an attempted fetal position.

“Hey, who’s in here? I heard a noise, is everything ok? Did you drop someth-” Steve’s voice faltered as he opened the door to find me withering in psychological pain on the newly varnished hardwood floor. He rushed to my side, lifting me effortlessly and carrying me to the bed where he sat and gathered me against his chest.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

I shook my head wordlessly as sobs racked through my body, holding handfuls of his shirt and pulling myself towards him.

“Just breathe ok? Shhh, calm down, and try to breathe.” He gripped my tighter to his chest, but I could feel that he was keeping his strength in check because I didn’t feel any of my ribs shattering. I made a mental note to thank him for that later. “You know, back in the army, this used to happen to guys all the time. One minute they’re fine, and the next, they can’t move, they can’t breathe. It’s hard. Sometimes you’re in the battle field, bullets flying down on you like confetti, and you reach down for the gun that your buddy was supposed to be reloading and all you get is a handful of nothing. You look down and he’s there, head in his hands, rocking back and forth, tears all down his face. And what can you do? He doesn’t know this life. He grew up on the farm. He’d only ever met a hundred people before joining to army.”

My breath started to creep back into my lungs as I listened.

“You just gotta go down and hold him for a sec, tell him it’s ok. Tell him it’s all gonna be ok.” I released the tension from my shoulders, and let my head loll against his chest. I could hear his heart beat, strong and steady. I tried to match my breathing to it. _In, in, in, and out, out, out._ He looked down at me, a small smile tracing across his face. “There you go, just like that.”

“Th-th-thank you,” I stuttered as my breath hitched in my chest, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—“

“Don’t be sorry. It happens to the best of us,” He brushed a strand of hair, now damp with tears, away from my face, “Really, it does. Now do you think you can tell me why this happened?” His face was firm, not mad but authoritative, trustworthy, capable. I nodded stupidly and shuffled myself off his lap so I could sit next to him on the bed.

“I just started thinking about my family, and how worried they must be. I was wondering, what if—” I could feel my breath catching in my throat again, and fought to regulate it. “What if I can’t get back to them? What if I can’t get home?” Tears fell from my eyes again, this time not in panic, but in sadness.

“I’m sorry,” he began. “I understand how terrifying it is. To face the loss of all your loved ones. It’s so hard, and I’m sorry you have to go through it at such a young age.”

We were both still for a moment. We just sat next to each other. Thinking about the ones we lost.

He took a deep breath “Let’s see what Stark and Banner can do about it ok? There’s no point in worrying about worst cases without talking to them about it first.” I nodded. I didn’t have anything else to say. He turned to look at me, sadness in his eyes. “Come on, they’re all downstairs.”

He helped me off the bed, and took me into his side. And together he walked my out of the sunlit room and down the stairs, towards solutions.

———————————————————————————————————————

We could hear their voices as soon as we turned into the hallway. Shouts and laughs and the the questions of “Which room did you get?” Steve and I walked down to the second floor, coming back to the room we had seen when we first entered the building, and took the hallway to our right to the northern side of the house, passing three half open bedroom doors as we went. When we got to the end of the hallway, we found ourselves looking over a metal railing for the second time that day. Below us was the living room, made up of a large “L” shaped couch as well as two arm chairs to its right all arranged in a semi circle around a small, modern coffee table and facing a generously sized television, mounted on a wall made entirely of glass, as if someone had invited the trees into the home itself.

“So wait, wait, wait,” Tony stood at the corner of the couch, his back still towards us. “The twins got two rooms on the second floor, Rhodey and Vision are sharing the third floor with Natasha who’s in the master bedroom, and Sam is on the fourth, with Steve in _that_ floor’s mater bedroom. Am I right?” The billionaire glanced around the room, met by nods of clarification before turning around to call out to the space behind him, the space just under where Steve and I were standing. “Hey speedy— Oh,” He remarked as his gaze was caught by our presence. “Hey, did you two find rooms alright?”

“Yeah, yeah we found everything alright.” Steve answered for me, placing a comforting hand on my back. He was so serious and authoritative with others, but around me he seemed different, like he was protecting me in a different way. The Steve that didn’t trust me was gone. Replaced by… I wasn’t sure yet. A friend maybe? He walked down the stairs shifting me so that his body blocked my tear streaked face from the group of Avengers staring at me from their places on the couch. “Stark, Banner. A word?” His question was less of a request than a respectful demand, catching the attention of everyone on the couch, their ears perking up at the new tone of tension in the room. The two scientists walked from their places in the group over to Steve and I, and lingered in our wake as we turned from the base of the stairs to head into the dining area beneath the overhang Steve and I had been standing on just seconds earlier. It was a mostly open space except for a generous kitchen and bar on the far side and evidently a —.

_Umph!_

“Oh sorry—.”

Evidently a Pietro Maximoff.

The super human collided with me on his way back into the living room with a bowl of chips; probably coming back from the kitchen. Our bodies were pressed together for a moment. My hand, having raised in reaction to the not completely ill fated collision, now resting gently on his chest, while his had come to press into my waist in an attempt to steady me after his large mass had thrown me off kilter. At first he had smiled down at me, unaware of the tension that Steve and I had invited into the room, but his jovial look soon sobered as he realized the sadness that lingered in my eyes, turning his grin into an expression of concern and curiosity.

His questions died on his lips as Captain American pulled my body from his grasp, gathering me against his own super soldier side and continuing to walk me forward, still followed by our resident geniuses. He stopped us when we reached the long marble breakfast bar in the kitchen, conveniently close to the actual bar just in case someone needed a morning hangover fix. I threw a quick glance across the room to see Pietro setting down the bowl of chips as the rest of the team, which I now see included Agent Maria Hill, and looking over at me with concern, questions he would’ve asked seeming to float silently out of the corners of his mouth. I turned back to the small group that had congregated around the marble eating surface where Steve was debriefing the two men on why I was so upset and what they could do to fix it. I stayed silent, for once in my life content to let someone else do the talking for me. By the end of his speech, the both of us we left staring at Tony and Bruce with hope and desperation, terrified of what they might say next. The two of them only smiled, looking at each other and raising their eyebrows as if they were silently asking each other something that I couldn’t even begin to understand.

After a some sort of agreement had been made between them, they faced us again, both Steve and I awaiting their words as we shifted between dread and excitement. Eventually Tony spoke up.

“We were waiting until tonight to tell you.”

“We didn’t want you to get your hopes up. Remember, we have to stay rational.”

“But we’ve already started working on it.”

“We knew we needed to help you.”

“We drew up the plans on the Helicarrier.”

“On the way back from Sokovia.”

“Had them sent to the lab before we landed.”

“Team here has been assembling the design.”

“Said they might finish it by tomorrow.”

“ _Might._ ”

“But you could be on your way home soon.”

“Not too soon though, we still have to run tests, we can’t just put you in-”

“Oh god no, we’ll have to focus on its safety before we send you in to it.”

They were talking so fast eventually they just started talking over each other, but I had heard what I needed to hear. I covered my widening smile with my hands as I tried to fight the urge to squeal with happiness. I jumped up and threw my arms around Steve’s neck before doing the same to the squabbling scientists who had been debating what kinds of tests to run for the optimal affect. The noises of surprise they made drew the attention of the rest of the team, who inquired about the sudden change in mood as the four of us made our way over to join them.

“She gets to go home,” Bruce explained with a proud smirk gesturing to my beaming face as I made my way over to the shorter end of the couch choosing a seat next to Pietro.

“Home?” Sam asked, “What do you mean by that?”

A knowing glance shot around the room.

_Oh yeah, I guess not all of them know about me._

I took a deep breath.

“Well, let’s see how I should put this…” I explained as much as I could as quickly as I could and luckily everyone who was new to the idea seemed to grasp it pretty quickly.

“So all this was a movie for you?” Sam asked, nursing a beer that he had grabbed from the bar as soon as he had heard: I’m actually from a parallel universe.

“Yeah, pretty much. Except it was different. I tried to make it easier for you guys.” I said with a shrug.

“What exactly did you change?” Natasha asked, grinning, “You still haven’t told us.”

“Well, Banner didn’t level a city in Africa.” I began with a nod toward the flannel clad man sitting as close to Nat as humanly possible without actually touching her. “The Stark name hasn’t been too sullied. You’re welcome Tony. Oh, and Pietro didn’t die. So that’s a plus.”

The probably wasn’t the most diplomatic way to put things, but I was riding so high on the news of home, that I couldn’t seem to keep my joy out of the conversation.

If Wanda had been drinking something I swear she would’ve spat it across the room at that point, her eyes turning a dangerous shade of red as they locked with mine. Pietro also seemed quite shocked by this news as he shifted his body to face mine, his eyes begging for some kind of explanation as I tore my gaze from the prison Wanda had tried to trap it in.

I answered their looks, suddenly nervous. “Well, during the battle, you tried to save Clint by taking all those bullets… That’s why I was there. I made sure I’d be there. That’s why I used that car to block you. Well, sorta.”

His eyes were trained on mine, as if they were both feeding and absorbing each other’s energy as the same time. It was Wanda who woke me from my dazed state when she knelt by my feet and gripped both of my hands in hers, and uttered a simple quiet “Thank you.”

I smiled at her. She couldn’t be that much older than me, a few years at most, and she had already lost so much. “I know you would’ve done the same for my family.” She smiled back up at me before returning to her seat on the other side of Pietro. He sat still, refusing to look at me again, as if he was still too tired from the last time our eyes had met. I looked over to see Tony had caught me looking at the speedster, oh and Nat had too, and Clint, and Maria, and Thor, even Steve, who was looking surprisingly vexed at the fact.

_Great everyone saw me looking at him. Fine._

But nothing could ruin the mood I was in, not even the shit eating grin on Tony’s face. Or the nervous glint in Natasha’s eye.

“I have—,” Tony started.

“No.”

“—an idea.”

“No, Tony.”

“We should play—”

“Tony this is not a good idea—”

“We should play truth or dare," he finally blurted out. "Come on don’t be a buzz kill!”

A chorus of positive reenforcement seemed the fate of the team as Natasha, Hill, and I sank back into the couch. I contemplated slipping away, upstairs where I could just sleep the night away, but I was down here with a team of superheroes dead set on team bonding and probably my embarrassment so I knew that any plans to escape were nothing more than futile dreams. No, there was nothing to do but sit and bare it.

Tony decided to start the game off simple, “Bruce, give Widow a kiss.”

The look that accompanied the dare was direct and encouraging, but it crashed on the doctor’s mask of embarrassment like a wave against a fortress. Nothing would’ve happened if Natasha hadn’t rolled her eyes at the two boys, gripped her his chin, and planted one on him, much to the excitement of the rest of the team. They finally broke apart, boasting smirks of pride and confused embarrassment, as the whoops and hollers from around the room subsided.

“Alright, alright starting small.” Tony nodded his approval at the fulfillment of his dare. “Clint, you ask next.”

“Oh gosh,” the archer groaned happily as he took another swig from his beer. “I think that War Machine over here,” he gestured sarcastically to Rhodey sitting beside him, “has to spend the rest of the game with Thor’s hammer on his lap.” Bursts of poorly concealed snickers popped around the room as, despite the numerous protests, Thor stood and laid the hammer across the knees of the soldier who grunted in displeasure.

“Yeah, that’s funny that’s—ugh— that’s real great guys, thanks.”

“Hope you don’t have to go to the bathroom anytime soon,” Sam mumbled as Steve burst out laughing once more, sending the rest of the group into a second fit of giggles.

“Ok,” Tony tried to get his words out between laughs, “Ok, who’s next?” The game went around the circle, someone daring Steve to consume copious amounts of alcohol to prove that he really couldn’t get drunk, and then getting Thor to stare at a lightbulb for thirty second after he had claimed that “Midgaurdian technology is inferior”. Eventually it was Nat’s turn to dish out the question, and she had trained her eyes on me as soon as her number was up.

“Pietro,” She purred, narrowed eyes still locked with mine, “It occurred to me that you still haven’t properly thanked your savior.” I could not glare hard enough at the master assassin across the room.“I think you should give her a kiss.” I felt him stiffen beside me, his white blond hair shifting from the slight movement. I glued my eyes to the tops of my legs as I sensed his head turning towards mine. His eyes fell on my face like a hot summer rain and out of the corner of my eye I could see a cocky smirk plastered over his obviously nervous face. Hushed whispers and smug glances shot around the couch from various members of the team.

_But what if he doesn’t like me?_ I thought. _He’s a total lady’s man, what if he just wants to get into my pants? Whatever it’s not like I really like him. I’ve just been crushing on him ever since I saw the movie. Is that weird? Yeah, it’s weird. Fuck. Hey you know what? It doesn’t even matter. I’m going home anyway so it’s not like I could date him. Just enjoy the moment, just enjoy kissing this gorgeous, tall, strong, funny, sweet — wait what?_ I felt him look away from me as I turned to meet his eyes. I recoiled from him. _Did he not want to kiss me?_

He moved away from me, looking more and more perturbed by the idea of kissing me. The blood that had rushed to my cheeks now vanished, leaving me a ghostly pale as tears brimmed my eyes. I stared at him, angry now, waiting at least for an explanation, but none came. I blinked and opened my eyes to find the spot that Pietro had occupied was vacant, nothing but a faint trail of blue leading away from it. _Of course,_ I thought as I composed myself and stood, offering a quick goodnight to the rest of the team, who were still awestruck at Pietro’s gloomy disposition, and fleeing the room in the calmest way possible. I waited until I shut the door to my room on the fourth floor before flinging myself onto my bed and clothing the pillow to my newly damp cheeks. It had been a while since I cried myself to sleep so effectively.


	8. Redemption

I woke the next morning with the sun streaming in through narrow slots of a blind that had been drawn by some forward-thinking soul while I slept. I reached over to open the blinds as I rubbed my eyes, quickly realizing I was still wearing the Avengers issued clothes that I had fallen asleep in the day before. I swung my feet over the edge of the bed, wincing as they came into contact with the chill of the wooden floor. I eased myself out of the warm confines of my sheets and crept across the chilled room towards the regulation dresser on the far wall. Taking note of the unusual chill for a summer morning, I rummaged through drawers of basic white, grey, and black clothing with small Avengers insignias on sleeves and hems before pulling outa pair of simple black leggings, a grey shirt, and the appropriate under garments and heading into the bathroom. The shower was hot, wonderfully hot after the cold room. I showered quickly, which was unusual for me, but I wasn’t in the mood for a long, luxurious shower after last night’s embarrassments. I stepped out of the shower and threw my hair into a soggy bun on the top of my head using a hair tie from a packet on the bottom shelf of the bathroom cabinet and donned my clothes for the day. I brushed my teeth and left the white tiled room, I would’ve taken a glance at myself in the mirror had it not been fogged over from my shower. _Better this way. At least if I look hideous I won’t have to know about it._ The rest of my room had gotten a bit more bearable in the time I had showered, the sun warming the small room through the unshaded window, and I could now walk comfortably to grab a pair of clean white socks and slip on the pair of boots that Natasha had given me a few days ago.

The whole morning had seemed to pass in a sort of trance, getting ready out of habit, still tired from the whole ordeal. _But I’m going to see Tony and Bruce, I’m going to go home_ , the thought brought a smile to my face as I walked towards my door. Getting to see my family again, my house, my dog, it seemed like something that wouldn’t ever be possible but now here I was, right on the cusp of what I had wanted this whole time.

_Finally._

No more feeling guilty for every time I smiled while I knew my parents were at home worrying where I had gone. My smile faded as I thought of them.

_My parents…_

I leaned my head against my door while my hand rested on the silver knob.

_It’s alright now. I’m going to see them soon. It’ll all be alright._

My face set in a look of fierce determination as I opened the door with a rather satisfying _swoosh_ and stepped out into the glassy hallway, only to find myself nose to nose with Steve. Or really, nose to chest.

“Oh sorry!” I said quickly, eyes turned towards the floor. His room was right next to mine and, because his door also seemed to be perpendicular to mine, when we left at the same time, we were _begging_ to bump into each other.

“No, no it was my fault,” he said, a grin blossoming on his face, “I just forgot to look down."

I laughed softly at his jab, and his eyes grew concerned looking down at me. “I came in to check on you last night but you were already asleep. You seemed pretty upset when you left.”

“Oh, so you must’ve been the one who drew the blinds over my window,” I realized.

He looked down, chuckling silently as he rubbed the back of his neck with one of his hands.

“Yeah, I did. Figured you wouldn’t want too rude an awakening. You are on the east side of the building and all.” His eyes really were amazing. The same kind of soft grey that you might see dusting a mountain top on an early morning.

“Well thank you, I really appreciated it.” I paused for a moment, “I was just going to find Tony and Bruce, see what kind of progress they’ve made. Would you come with me?” I felt bad, I knew he probably was planning to go exercise or something, go lift some trucks or find beautiful women. I didn’t want to impose, but I could use a friend.

“Of course, I’m curious to see what they’ve been going on about anyway.”

I smiled and began walking down the hallway with him doing his best to stay next to me as my short strides echoed through the space that he could clear in seven steps. I tried to ignore his ‘subtle’ glances at me as we walked, his puppy dog face marked with pity and concern. I rolled my eyes at him, trying to put off my growing annoyance.

“You know I’m not always a weeping mess. You don’t have to check on me every five seconds to make sure I’m not broken. You’ve seen what I can do, I’m not some delicate little flower.” We had reached the stair case now, and I used his dumbstruck stillness to hurry in front of him. I didn’t get far ahead of him before his long legs caught up with my glide down the stairs.

“I know— believe me everyone on this team knows what you are capable of. But we’ve all lost things. We know what it’s like, so seeing you go through this is hard for us. We’re all broken. Everyone on the planet is, that’s just what humanity is _like_.” He stopped me as we neared the bridge over to the other building, “Hey, I’m sorry if you think that I’ve been patronizing you. I just want to make sure you’re alright. You’re a part of the team now.”

“Not for long…” I mumbled, turning away from him, and walking on to the bridge.

“Is that what this is about?” He asked, catching up to me yet again. “I thought you wanted to go home.”

I stopped dead in my tracks, frozen in place in the middle of the bridge, and suddenly all the guilt came crashing back.

“Of course I want to go home,” I snapped at him, “I want to see my parents, my brothers, my home. I want all of that. I’ve wanted that since I landed in this shit-fest. I have worried about them everyday because I know that they are sick worrying about _me_ and that kills me. And what kills me more is the guilt I feel for every moment I’ve _enjoyed_ here. Every time I felt powerful, every time Tony made me laugh, or Bruce comforted me. I can’t stand it, Steve.” I looked at him, tears unexpectedly lighting up my eyes again. “I can’t stand the guilt of some part of me not wanting to go home.”

He looked concerned, genuinely, and a part of me melted, an exasperated smile forcing itself onto my face as it always did when I felt awkward. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I snapped at you. It’s just that, you know, this is my tragedy. This is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. And I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve loved being here, getting to meet you, I—.” My voice broke off. “I’m just angry for being so selfish. I’m not broken enough. Even though I should be.”

At that he started to melt as well, his stern facade dripping down his shoulders and off his fingers, and suddenly he stood a little straighter, as if all that nobility had weighed a hundred pounds and all of it had just been sitting on his face.

“You don’t need to break. You don’t need to carry that guilt. You’re allowed to feel happy even when you shouldn’t. Hell, how do you think most of us got through the war?” He brushed a hair out of my face and smiled. “Come on,” he said in a soft voice, turning me with a gentle hand on the small of my back. “Let’s go get you home.”

——————————————————————————————————————

We found Tony and Bruce in one of the larger labs downstairs, ordering a team of younger, confused looking scientist around as they scribbled results in a graphing notebook and mumbled to each other. They turned at the sound of the door closing to find Steve and I marveling at the machine that stood by the farthest wall.

“What do you think?” Bruce asked with a proud grin with a nod towards his creation.

“It’s amazing,” I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. The large metal ring stood on a pedestal swarmed by welders finishing a final control panel on it’s left side. It was beautiful in it’s simplicity, but all I could see was the possibility of where it could take me.

_I can go home_.

“We were just getting the finishing touches on. We’re still gonna have to run some tests, but you should be home sometime tomorrow.” Tony sounded so nonchalant, but my head snapped towards him at his final words, an expression of gratitude and disbelief frozen on my face. I ran forward to hug him, catching him of guard as he stood with his arms in the air, refusing to return the gesture, but I didn’t care, I needed to show him how much this meant to me.

“Alright, alright kiddo. Stop with the mushy stuff. I gotta get back to work here if we also wanna finish the one for the Tower before next month.” _What?_ I stepped away from him, brows furrowed and head cocked to the side in an expression of my confusion.

“The one for the Tower?” I repeated.

“Yeah, I mean, we thought it would be most convenient if you had a direct line to this facility and the tower.” Bruce explained, to try to ease my confusion. My heart stopped as realization hit me.

“Wait. Do you mean I can come back here?”

The two scientists grinned.

“You’re not getting away from us that easy.” Bruce replied before I engulfed them in a brutal bear hug and squeezed my happiness.

“Steve! I can come back!” I turned and leapt in to the super soldier’s arms wrapping my legs around him in a koala-like position as he laughed.

“Yeah, it looks like you can.” He continued chuckling as he set me down. When my feet were firmly on the ground again, he caught my chin between his thumb and forefinger and tilted my head up to meet my eyes, “Didn’t I tell you not to worry?”

“Now we’ve got some toys for you,” Tony tried to return the heartfelt moment to science as he lead Steve and I to a long table at the edge of the room. He handed me first an iPhone, my iPhone from before. I was surprised that he still had it. My surprise must’ve read on my face because Tony rolled his eyes as he shoved the phone into my hands before explaining.

“We have all your stuff from the night you came to us, kept it so you’d have something to wear when you got home,” Seeing my silent “ohh” he continued, “Now this is still your phone, as you recognized, but we’ve modified it. You see, this was really what we used to trace which universe was yours, out of the infinite number you can understand why it might’ve been hard to pinpoint. But we found the main strain of the connection that must’ve brought you here in the first place, and we we crossed checked it with the data from your phone— well, it was relatively easy to trace.” He glanced at me to make sure I was following. Or at least to make sure I knew how impressive their work was.

“Ok, ok, I’m with you, all of that makes sense.”

“Well now we’ve made it so that your phone can call both universes.” Bruce chined in. “I’ve already added all of the team’s contacts, so you don’t need to worry about that, and I’ve edited your old contacts to make sure you can call them from here.”

“You mean I can call my mom?”

“From right where you’re standing. But I wouldn’t advise it, it will be better to hear all of this in person tomorrow. It’s easier to prove it that way.” I nodded my understanding. I was sad, but I knew he was right.

_Hey mom, I’m with the Avengers don’t worry._ Yeah, not the best idea.

“We also have this,” Bruce held up a delicate gold chain necklace with a small gold oval about the size of my thumb hanging from it. “This is how you’ll be able to open up the portal from your side. You just put your thumb here,” He pointed to the pendent“and a portal will open up in front of you. It’ll lead here if you use the front side,” he flipped the pendant over, revealing a matching face with a small gem set in the middle, “or to the Tower if you use the back, once we get that portal running.” He handed me the necklace, letting the chain pool in my hand. The gold shape shimmered blue as it touched my hand before quickly returning to its original hue. Putting my phone in the pocket of my shorts, I took either end of the chain in each hand and moved to fasten it around my neck.

“Let me,” Steve’s warm voice rang out behind me, as he placed his hands over mine, taking the clasp from my fingers and deftly connecting it behind me. I looked down as the oval fell beside the lightning bolt charm that I had been wearing since I arrived in this universe, the gold of the two pieces glittering as they laid on my chest. A slight movement from the window to the hallway caught my eye and I turned my head only to see a streak of blue trailing from the spot where Pietro had been standing. The rest of my group had evidently seen it too, as Steve backed away from me with a bowed head and Tony came towards me with a pat on the back.

“Don’t worry about him, he’s just hot headed.”

I nodded and sighed, not knowing what I was going to do about the superhero I was falling for.

The rest of the day was spend exploring the new buildings with Steve. Not that there was much left to the day given I had woken up around noon, but still after our meeting with Tony and Bruce there was time to peek in on the various labs on the first floor, play with some of the new weapons in the second floor range, grab lunch at the cafeteria on the fourth floor, and spend the rest of the lazy afternoon roaming the grounds of the property. It was fun being with him; it was simple, easy, like being with someone I’d known forever. We talked about my family and how I would tell them about what had happened, I told him that I knew what had happened during the war and that I admired his strength. We told each other crappy jokes. Before we knew it the sun’s rays dusted the tips of the evergreen trees in the west, and we made our way back to our housing complex to find something to eat for dinner. We walked over a semicircular patio framing a sliding glass door on the first floor and walked in to find the rest of the team eating Chinese food in the living room.

“Hey you two! We saved you some dumplings,” Clint was the first to notice our appearance, followed shortly by Nat and the rest of the team who waved us over with vigor. Well, all except Pietro. He glared down at his food, stirring it with a single chopstick as the other dangled from his fingers, haphazardly tapping against the side of his noodle container. I did my best to avoid looking at the beautiful blond as Steve guided me to the couch with a gentle hand on my back. I took a seat on the edge of the L shaped furniture, next to Vision who handed me a paper box filled with green dumplings.

“Steamed vegetable,” He explained in his lulling British accent, “Wanda said they were your favorite.” The brunette blushed at the reveal of the use of her powers and sent an apologetic smile my way.

“They are,” I smiled at him before turning my gaze to Wanda, “Thank you. I’m glad to see you’re using your powers for the greater good.”

A naughty smirk spread across her face and the two of us shared a silent laugh before turning our attention back to our food. There was a comfortable silence among the group. Everyone seemed happy and at peace, everyone except for Pietro who was tapping his foot faster than the speed of light, not that anyone noticed. Unfortunately, _some people_ just couldn’t be happy with silence.

“So,” Tony spoke up, his eyes darting right and left before settling back on his noodles, “we never did finish our game of Truth or Dare…” A groan rose from the table accented by complaints that Tony was “never satisfied” and cries of “poor Pepper”.

Tony just rolled his eyes, “Come on. How about— oh ok— how about in celebration of your hero's homecoming? Ehh?” At this Pietro stopped moving entirely and shot a glare at Tony that could’ve killed had his powers been different. The whole group was mesmerized by the sudden stillness and watched the silver-haired boy stand slowly from the table and stomp angrily towards the kitchen at the far side of the room. Worried looks were cast across the coffee table as sounds of slamming chop sticks and plastic containers echoed through the room. He was obviously making a performance of it for our benefit; he could have done everything he was doing in under a second if he wanted to, but clearly he wanted to drag the moment out. It was Natasha who broke the silence.

“Truth or Dare?”

I looked at her startled. _What was she doing?_ She just glared at me, cocking her head and widening her eyes to remind me that she needed an answer to her question.

“Uh,” I tried to search for the right answer in her face. “D—?”

A discrete shake of her head and a glance towards Pietro who was about to stomp up the stairs and up to his room indicated that “Dare” was apparently the incorrect answer. “Truth? I gues—?”

The assassin cut in before I had a chance to question her plan.“So how does it feel to be able to _jump universes whenever you want?_ ” She called out the question especially loudly, for the benefit of the whole team, even members on the stairs. Members who were now frozen in place, heads turned towards the center of conversation, me, with expressions of disbelief and hope mingled on the faces. _Oh,_ I thought _, so that’s her plan._

Before I could say anything, Pietro spoke up. “You can come back?” His crystal blue eyes met mine and I felt like they were boring into my soul.

“Yeah, they told me today. I have to be back for training and—” There was rush of air and suddenly the teammate on the stairs was next to me, having moved me closer to Vision to sit on my left, his eyes still digging into mine, but this time with an expression of happiness.

“Stark,” He trilled in his melodic accent, a smirk growing on his face, “I think I will join you in this game.”

“Promise you won’t run off this time?”

“Trust me.” His eyes never left mine, “I don’t think that will be a problem.”

The game picked up right where it had left off the night before. Clint had to be handcuffed to a chair for twenty minutes with Thor’s hammer on his lap. Sam had to take a shot of the Asgaurdian liquor which put him out of the game for the rest of the night. Tony declared that he lost his virginity to a high school senior when he was fifteen which resulted in a handful of rolled eyes and more than one request to “vote him off the island”. Thor revealed what kind of undergarments he wore underneath his battle armor to quell Rhodey’s curiosity (I’ll spare you his answer), and I had asked Bruce to kiss Nat again which resulted in a chaste peck on the cheek that drew “Awww”’s from nearly everyone in the group. Eventually the game had circled around to Natasha again and she set her eyes on Pietro and I just as she had last night.

“Since yesterday seemed to be to much for you,” She began in a mocking tone, “I think you two have to hold hands for the rest of the game.” The both of us rolled our eyes at her as the rest of the team snickered and “ohh”-ed and “ahhh”-ed around us. I could feel Pietro’s eye’s on my face as his hand glided over the leather couch to brush my fingers before sliding his hand beneath mine and giving it a gentle squeeze. I glanced back at him coyly. It was going to take a bit more than that to get into my good graces after the stunt he pulled last night.

_It was only because he thought you were leaving, he was falling for you too fast,_ I thought, but I quickly pushed the idea from my mind, knowing that I couldn’t be sure of it. _He could just be playing me._ The hand holding had satisfied the viewers though and the hubbub had died down enough for Thor to take his turn.

“Natasha, I must say I do not think that is enough,” He tilted his head to the side and squinted at Pietro and I as if we were a crooked painting hanging over his mantle. “Pietro, you should put your arm around her. Gather her to your side.” The rest of the team nodded their agreement before I foolishly tried to protest Thor’s negligence towards the game we were playing.

“You didn’t even ask Truth or D—.” I was silenced as the hand holding mine slipped from my grasp and came to rest of my right shoulder, pulling me in to lean on Pietro’s chest.

“Relax, Dragoste,” he cooed in his native tongue, hot breath tickling my ear, “This is a good dare, we should not fight it.” I turned back to look at him. He still had a smug smile plastered on his face and his eyes twinkled with laughter, but beneath them was something else, something that made me relax into his side, my head lolling onto his shoulder as a smile crawled on my face. We spent a moment looking at each other while the rest of the team exchanged high fives or at the very least knowing grins.

“Now we should make it interesting,” Tony decided. “Sparks, truth or dare?”

“Dare.” I replied without taking my eyes off Pietro, letting them glimmer mischievously and his grin widened.

“How about you hit the little bastard with your favorite pick up line,” Tony suggested.

“Stark, that’s enough,” Steve stopped him looking more and more uncomfortable by the minute.

The group looked at me expectantly as I thought of something dirty enough to meet Tony’s standards. Something came to me quickly enough, and I reached up, turning my body towards his toned chest and resting my right hand over his heart as my left pulled his shoulder down so that my lips were close enough to brush his ear.

“I love that outfit, but it would look so much better on the floor next to my bed.” He laughed out a deep breath in, laughing softly, and pulled my even closer to him, his arm wrapping around my waist. The rest of the team hollered at the hidden exchange, well everyone but Steve and Wanda who were more than a little uncomfortable.

“What did you say?” Clint prodded.

“Nothing I need to tell you!” I replied, blushing and leaning further into Pietro. Everyone voiced their disappointment, but I simply shrugged and glanced back at Pietro who was looking up at me with a wolf-like grin.

“Alright, alright!” Clint hollered over the roar of disappointment, “Just get it over with. Pietro, you little shit, just kiss her and get it over with.”

I saw his hand before I felt it, gentle and warm, under my jaw, guiding my face towards his, pulling my eyes away from their fixed point until I let them travel slowly, nervously up the arm that held my jaw, coming to rest as I looked into his eyes. They were sweet and nervous, a crystal blue that would’ve made even the clearest sky jealous. They flickered down to my lips for a moment before meeting mine again and he raised his eyebrows in question. I didn’t even have to think about an answer. I let my head lean into the strength of his hand as I tilted my chin up towards his. His other arm came to my waist, turning my body towards him and pulling me close as he leaned towards me. The hand that had rested on my jaw migrated to the back of my head, his fingers tagging in my hair as his thumb caressed the soft skin behind my ear. I brought my hands up to his chest, feeling his rapid heartbeat beneath my fingertips. His lips did not meet mine with a crash. There was no rush of passion. It felt like I was on the peak of a swing, suspended in the air, reaching towards the sky. Weightless. I let my left hand slither up his shoulder, sliding over to grasp the back of his neck, pulling him closer to me, pressing our lips together more tightly in the kiss that was growing less chaste by the millisecond.

The room was dead quiet when our lips first touched. Everyone either had their hand clasped over their mouth in shock or had their neighbor’s hand clamped over their mouth to keep them from saying anything. I didn’t care though, I had forgotten that they were even in the room. The only people that existed were me and Pietro. Our kiss grew more heated, lips meshing back and forth, a tongue sweeping daringly across my bottom lip, mouths opening, my fingers wrapping themselves in the fabric of his shirt. Then the rest of the room was in an uproar. At least four people exchanged money that had been promised in a bet concerning certain passions between the speedster and I, but we were too caught up to care.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Around the room shouts of mirth had morphed into amused groans of disgust. Wanda was starting to mumble complaints in her native tongue as Bruce sat stock still as he waited for the moment to pass. Tony and Natasha were cheering us on while Clint rolled his eyes and Steve simmered from his seat across the room. Eventually a suggestion was made by Rhodey, claiming that “The two love birds should take this outside so we don’t have to see”. The remark was met by a playful glance around the room by a pair of bright blue Sokovian eyes before their owner scooped me up in his arms and sped from the room, carrying me through the glass sliding door and setting me down on my feet on the patio.

“Here we are…” Pietro said, his words tickling my ear as he bent to steady me after our journey, “…outside”. I looked up at him and saw a glimmer in his eyes that some might call dangerous, but I would call very _very_ attractive. In a second my eyes were squeezed shut again, my lips pressed against his as his arms wrapped around my waist and lifted me off the ground. I threw my arms around his neck as we kissed, tangling my fingers in his hair and giving it the slightest tug. He groaned in to my mouth as he bit my lip, his tongue lashing at it between his teeth. The kiss grew more heated by the second as our tongues intertwined and we pulled each other flush against our bodies. He set me back down on the ground before dipping me down so that I was laying on the patio, its stones still warm from baking in the sun all day long. His lips never left mine as he lowered himself on top of me, his hips fitting between my knees as he ground down on me. I arched my back and smiled into the kiss, I had wanted to do this with him since the moment I saw him and now it was better than I could’ve imagined.

He pulled away from the kiss for a moment, resting his forehead against mine. We chuckled as our noses rubbed together before he pulled back to plant a soft kiss on the tip of mine. His playful eyes grew sincere as he lifted one of the arms he had been leaning on to avoid crushing me to sweep a stray hair out of my face, letting his hand linger on my cheek. I untangled one of my hands from his hair and let it drift over his strong arm to rest over his hand before moving it over my lips to place a chaste kiss on his palm.

He sighed. “You are so beautiful.” He said as he slid on to his left hand so that he laid to my right. I snuggled into his chest, using one of his arms as a pillow and the other as a blanket. I took a deep breath, inhaling the smell of his shirt: lavender detergent (standard for all Avengers attire, including the clothes I was wearing now), Chinese food, and something underneath that was distinctly Pietro, something that almost smelled like a fireplace. Hot and mineralat the same time. “You are beautiful," he said again. "Unbelievably beautiful, and I have thought that since the moment I met you. And then I got to know you and I saw that you are also funny. And smart. And one of the kindest people I have ever met.” He placed a gentle kiss to the top of my head as we laid together on the smooth granite. I sighed and looked up to the shy, wanting desperately to change the subject. I let my gaze swim through a sea of stars before falling on one of the few constellations I knew.

“There’s the Little Dipper.” I said, pointing just above the uppermost branches of the closest tree. “And there’s the Big Dipper.” I shifted my hand over letting my finger fall towards the bright arrangement of stars. His eyes followed my hand into the sky as he identified each constellation. The two of us laid back in the quietness of the night, interrupted only by the occasional laugh or loud remark from the rest of the team inside, looking at the stars.

“One of my favorite things to do with my family,” I began, “was to lay a big blanket outside at night and look at all the stars.” I grinned at the memory, “Even my dog would come over and sit with us. And my dad would tell us which stars were which."

He grinned at me and leaned in to kiss me again. He rolled back on top of me, carefully sliding the arm I had rested my head on out from under me to support his weight. The kiss was sweet and tame and in a moment it was over. I opened my eyes to find that no one was there. I sat up, confused, looking after a blue streak that disappeared into the house, but a second later Pietro appeared agin, his arms full of fluffy white cotton. He spread one blanket over the patio before laying the second one on top of it and tossing down four voluptuous white pillows. He bent down to peal back a corner of the top blanket and gestured for me to slid in-between the two fluffy white sheets.

“Where did you get all this?” I asked laughing before standing and taking the single step needed to approach the blanket’s corner.

“My bed. And Clint’s. But who cares, he has an extra, less amazing blanket in his closet.” I climbed under the blanket and I rested my head on one of the many pillows, he slid in next to me, gathering me to his chest so I could hear the steady beat of his heart.

“Sleep now, Dragoste. And tomorrow you will see your family again.” I sighed as I took one last look at the stars before snuggling into his body, letting him whisper Sokovian sweet nothings along the edge of my ear until sleep pulled me under.


	9. Peaceful Days

It was my fourth day back in my own universe and my parents were already driving me crazy. Upon my arrival, accompanied by Steve and Tony, my family went from happy to confused very quickly. It wasn’t everyday your daughter is returned to you by Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr., but after a fair amount of explanation, the whole family came around to the idea. Although we decided it would be for the best to keep the police in the dark for a while, so my mom, a convincing actress, concocted some brilliant lie about me “stumbling back to our doorstep, having no recollection of where she had been” and “being too emotionally traumatized to have the matter discussed in her presence”— a message that was also sent out to friends and extended family when they asked how I had reappeared.

I guess I was lucky that my family loved me, even with my powers too, but after four days their love was suffocating me. And despite their protests eventually they understood that I had to get back to the base. I had refrained from using my powers as much as possible, but I was dying to spread my wings. So on the fifth day of my stay back at home, I decided I had had enough.

“Mom?” I hollered into the the spacious hallway, peaking my head out of my room, swinging a bag of exercise clothes over my shoulder.

“Yes?” Came the sing song reply from the den where she was undoubtably playing Candy Crush.

“I’m— I’m just gonna head back to the base, o—ok?.”

“Oh.” There was a moment of thoughtful quiet. “Really?”

I sighed, “Um, yeah.” I raised my voice, “Yeah, yeah I think so.”

Another silence.

“Ok, just be safe ok? I’m making spaghetti at six, so just be back by then alright?” Her voice wavered with worry, but she had always been reasonable with me, never being too over protective. “And stay in touch, ok?”

“I will!” I yelled with a grin spreading across my face closing the door to my room and dialing Steve’s number on my phone.

“Long time no see,” he answered after the first ring. “How’s it going?”

“Great! Too great. Boring actually. I was actually gonna stop by today, wanted to train a little bit.”

I could hear him smile, “I’ll meet you by the portal then.”

“Great, see you in a sec!” I ended the call and shoved the phone into my duffle bag before letting my fingers find the necklace that Tony and Bruce made me and pressing my thumb over the smooth golden surface. Immediately the mirror on the back of my door was consumed by a swirling blue light, casting sea-like waves around my room. I smiled as I stepped through it, confident that I would find myself in the lab of the base just as I had when Tony helped me test it out.

“There you are,” Steve said as I appeared, his arms crossed over his chest and a grin splitting his handsome face, “I was beginning to think that you weren’t going to come back.”

I matched his grin as I sauntered across the sterile looking room to wrap my arms around him and rest my chin on his shoulder, letting his arms envelope me in astrong hug. “Now Captain,” I drawled, “you’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

“You’re right, it would be much harder.”

I pinched his neck at the pressure point earning a very rewarding “Ah!” of surprise before I pulled away from his hug, smirking.

“I’ll meet you in the field behind the compound in twenty minutes, I just wanna drop some stuff off in my room,” I explained with a nod towards my bag.

A disapproving gaze grazed the floor before his eyes met mine again. “You aren’t just going to make out with Pietro are you?” he asked in a rather judgmental tone.

“Come on Steve, be fair,” I reprimanded with eyebrows raised. “He’s a good guy. And you know that.” I turned and started walking towards the stairs that would lead me to the compound. “Besides,” I threw the word over my shoulder before coming to a complete stop in the doorway, leaning against it. “There isn’t _that_ much that can happen in twenty minutes.”

“You’re killing me.”

“You’re welcome.”

———————————————————————————————————————

It was nice to walk back into my room. Comforting. I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t see anyone on my way up, especially Pietro, but I was sure I would be able to find him later. Throwing my bag on the bed, I unzipped it and began to rummage until I found the pictures that I had brought. One of my family and I sitting on a log in the middle of a national park that my parents had dragged us to on a spring break, and one of my parents on their wedding day. I set each of them, already framed, atop the regulation dresser across from my bed. Next I pulled out a few clothes that I had brought. Last, I pulled out the bundle of sheets that I had carefully rested at the bottom of the bag. Unwrapping them, I removed my favorite lamp, a small golden lamp I usually kept on my desk. I put it on my dresser next to my pictures and plunged it in to one of the many available outlets. After turning it on and off and on and off to make sure it worked, I changed into some leggings and a loose fitting tee shirt before leaving the now slightly more homey room. I had barely made it three steps down the hallway before a blue blur stunned me into stillness. It all happened so fast, I felt his hands on my hips and his smirk ghosting over my lips before I even saw the bastard.

“I didn’t know I was getting such a pleasant surprise today,” he murmured before pressing his lips firmly to mine, sending my arms around his neck and pulling my hips flush against his.

I smiled against him, “How did you even know?” I whispered as our foreheads touched and our eyes locked. His smirk only grew wider.

“My sister sensed your presence from downstairs and sent me to you once you were out of your room.”

“Well it certainly took you long enough,” I taunted, pulling him in for another kiss. His lips felt heavenly against mine and his hair tangled around my fingertips as my heels lifted from to ground to lessen the distance between us. I pulled away, snickering at his obvious pout.

“I’m training with Steve today, I promised him I wouldn’t just be making out with you.” I pried his hands off me and started walking back down the hallway, but his hands didn’t stay away for long. I could feel all his muscles against my back when his arms wrapped around my waist and he rested his chin on my shoulder.

“But making out with me is so,” he planted a kiss on my shoulder, “much,” a kiss on my neck, “more,” a kiss beneath my ear, “fun.” He took my ear lobe between his teeth an tugged at it gently before nuzzling back into my shoulder. I couldn’t help the blush that spread across my face. No guy had been quite so attentive to me before and the attention flustered me in the best way possible, but I did my best to keep my cool as I pushed his hands off me again and walked away. Refusing to turn around, but wanting to give him some hope, I angled my head in his direction.

“Movie night. In the den at 8. If we’re lucky no one else will be there and we can…” I let my eyes flicker to his only to find them completely mesmerized, “… have some fun.” I finished with a smirk before walking down the hall with an extra sway to my hips. And this time he didn’t come after me. He was content to watch.

I met Steve in the field right on time, but he, of course, had to be early, being the gentleman that he was, dressed in a workout shirt and a grey regulation top that matched mine. Only bigger. Much bigger.

“So what should we do today?” I asked as I sprang over to him on the warm summer grass.

“Well I thought we would start with a run around the grounds before the weather starts to change.” He grinned as I groaned.

“Do we have to? I hate running, can’t I just shoot something?” I implored.

“Nope. You’ll thank me next time we’re running from a bomb.” He turned and started jogging away from me at what would be a pathetically slow pace for him and an incredibly challenging one for me. I debated just waiting where I stood until he was out of sight and I could disappear back into the house, but my hopes were dashed as a commanding: “Are you coming or not?” shot over the shoulder of the super soldier. My head hung, I dashed up to meet him, our feet falling in sync as we crossed the field and came to the dirt path that lead through the forest.

The run was silent (except for my pants of exhaustion) and peaceful. The sun streamed through the leaves of the canopy above us and various birdsongs could be heard over the thud of our feet on the pack soil. I knew that Steve was going easy on me, he wasn’t even _close_ to breaking a sweat, there wasn’t even an irregularity in his breathing pattern except when he would glance over at the sweat on my brow and chuckle silently, earning a steely glare from me. Eventually we made it to the end of the path, with me uncomfortably sweaty and winded and Steve still glowing like a boy scout. On the bright side, the end of the trail yielded a beautiful waterfall and pool alongside a lush grassy plain shielded by walls of trees.

“Oh,” the sound flew from my lips in a breath of wonder as I stepped into the sun speckled opening, the birdsongs now harmonizing with the trickle of water. I reveled in the feel of the sun on my face as I brushed sweating strands of hair off my forehead. I could feel the Captain’s eyes on me as I walked over to the pool, dipping my hands into the water and placing them on my cheeks before sweeping them back and plastering the last loose hair back from my face.

“We should get back soon if you wanna shoot some stuff before dusk,” came Steve’s drawl from behind me.

I smiled into the sunshine before turning back to find him looking at me with the strangest kind of bitter sweet expression. My brow furrowed in concern as I approached him.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” He shook the expression from his face and replaced it with a mischievous smile, “So do you wanna run back?”

“Oh hell no, we are walking. I don’t think you can handle another run, I mean look at you!” I turned from him and walked towards the path before calling over my shoulder, “An old man shouldn’t exert that much energy so fast.” I heard his laugh as he followed me, his long strides catching up with mine in half a second.

The walk back was quiet for a while, as the two of us enjoyed the scenery. We didn’t need to talk much. There wasn’t any awkwardness, we just fit together. We were halfway back to the compound before I decided to break our comfortable silence.

“Can I ask you something?” His eyebrows raised as he cocked his head towards me in his trademark quizzical look.

“What do you want to know?” He sighed, turning back to the path, assuming that I was going to ask about his days from the war or how hard it was to wake up in the twenty first century.

“Are you looking for Bucky?”

He stopped short, his face contorted in an expression of surprise and what could have been anger.

“Steve, I’m sorry I shouldn’t’ve asked. I didn’t mean to—” I started.

“No, no I mean it’s fine. I just didn’t expect that. I mean—uh, not a lot of people really know about that so I guess it just… it just surprised me.” He started walking again at a slightly brisker pace. I scampered after him, struggling to keep up until he looked down at me and slowed his pace again. “Yes, I am looking for him.” He said it more to the ground than me, but my head snapped up at his words. He glanced up at me before continuing, “Falcon and Nat are helping me out but so far all we’ve gotten are dead ends.”

“You know he was the one who saved you after S.H.E.I.L.D. fell right? Old S.H.E.I.L.D. I mean, not what we have now.”

“Yeah, I figured that out,” he started grimly before chuckling softly, “Gosh, I forget that you know so much.”

I smiled and looked at our feet as we stepped closer and closer to the end of the path. “I’ve been keeping an eye out for anything helpful, you know, back in my universe things about the ‘movies’ are always getting leaked.” He perked up at that, looking at me with wide hopeful eyes. “I haven’t seen anything yet, but as soon as I do, you’ll be thefirst to know.”

A small smile played on his lips and gratitude flooded his eyes. “Thank you.” The words were simple and clear, they lead us back into our comfortable silence as we took the final steps into the field where our exercise had began. “Now,” he started with a grin, his old school charm returning to his voice, “let’s go shoot some things.”

———————————————————————————————————————

The shot practice went well. Steve was patient and I was surprisingly good for a first time gun handler, although most of the credit goes to the high tech aim-assisting weaponry that the lab had designed for training. After a number of bulls eyes we decided to call it a day and by the time the sun had settled low in the sky, I was back in my own house taking a shower before dinner. I washed the dust from my ankles and the sweat from my hair before wrapping myself in a towel and throwing on a pair of comfy home leggings and my favorite red shirt that showed _just_ enough cleavage. The perfect outfit for a meeting with Pietro.

But first: dinner with the family.

My mom had been making all of my favorite foods since they found out I wasn’t dead or captured or anything and dinner had been even more lively with my family thriving off the never ending teasing material that came with the whole “living with fictional characters” thing, although they were still very supportive. Dinner did go rather quickly tonight though once I mentioned that I was meeting someone at 8 and the prodding and teasing from my family rose to a whole new level. But eventually the meal ended and before I knew it my teeth were brushed, the tips of my tight ponytail were subtly curled, and my nails were done in a classic red, as usual. And I watched as the clock in my room flicked from 7:59 to 8:00 before calling out to my mom that I was going back over to the team for a while.

“Is this your date?”

I sighed in exasperation.

“It’s just movie night, Mom. It’s no big deal, I’ll be home by midnight— probably even earlier!”

“Alright, sweetheart. Just keep me posted!”

“Ok, Mom, Bye!”

“Make good choices!”

I placed my thumb on my necklace for the second time that day and waited for the increasingly familiar portal to open in the mirror on the back of my door before stepping through it.

I emerged in the very empty, very dark lab on the first floor of the base, all the scientists having gone home or to sleep or wherever they went at night, I honestly had no idea. I worked my way through the base, following the path I now found familiar: out of the lab, right down the hallway, up the second staircase of the hub, left at the top, and down the second floor hall until I reached the bridge to the compound. I went to press my hand to the scanner beside the door, but a flutter in my stomach stopped me.

“Don’t get nervous now,” I murmured to myself, and with a breath, I pressed my palm firmly to the plastic blue surface, letting its pixels light up my hand before identifying it and allowing me access to my home away from home. I glanced at the screen that faced the door where it showed the weather and time. _8:03_. _Perfect timing._ I smirked to myself as I made my way down the hall, past the rooms belonging to Vision, Wanda, and Pietro, and over to the lofted overhang where I looked down into the dean to find my lovely blond kneeling on the floor in front of the gigantic screen, sorting through a number of DVDs with a look of confusion and conflict frozen on his face.

I smiled, enjoying the concentrated mumbles in his foreign tongue before speaking up. “Hi you.”

His head shot up in my direction and the look on his face changed drastically in a speed only he could manage.

I leaned forward on the metal railing that lined the edge of the overhang, casting a comically casual look around the empty room. “Looks like we got lucky, we’ve got the den all to ourselves,” I threw a suspicious glance at Pietro who was making his way over to the bottom of the stairs at a leisurely pace, “I wonder if anyone’s mind controlling sister had anything to do with that…” He had reached the top of the stairs at that point, only a few steps away from where I stood. He grinned as he closed the distance.

“She owed me a favor.” The words had hardly left his lips before they were swallowed up in a lingering kiss. His arms met around my back as mine folded over his shoulders. There was a moment of dizziness before I found myself seated on the couch next to Pietro, limbs still tangled around torsos in the aftermath of our embrace.

“Someone’s in a rush,” I smirked at him, and he placed another kiss on the tip of my nose before standing and crossing over to where he had knelt before while I placed my phone on the coffee table in front of me. He picked up the two movies and held them up for my inspection.

“Hmmmm,” I hummed in deliberation, “Both classics… Titanic is a total date night movie, but crazy long. I think we should start with Forrest Gump.”

He nodded in agreement.

“As you wish,” he replied, sliding the disk into the TV.

“Well, now the next thing we have to watch is The Princess Bride,” I chuckled at his words as he fell into place beside me on the couch again.

“And why is that? Is it because you are my printesa?” He teased, pressing his forehead into mine.

“Well that,” I leaned in to rub the tip of my nose against his, “And what you said ‘As you wish’, it’s a line in the movie, a very sweet line. You’ll see next movie night.”

“So there will be a second date?” His grin was criminally mischievous as he pressed his lips to mine passionately. I hummed into the kiss before pulling my lips away with a giggle.

“One step at a time,” I reprimanded. “As of right now, you should probably try to find the remote so you can press play.” He looked towards the screen to see the home page of the disc playing with the cursor over the ‘Play Movie’ option, just wait for someone to select it. He groaned as he stood and began searching for the remote. He looked under the TV, on the coffee table, and eventually he had to start flipping over the couch cushions.

“I swear, if that metal bird lost it again…” He mumbled angrily, his accent thicker as his frustration tried him.

“Where did you find these movies anyway?” I asked. It didn’t exactly seem normal for the Avengers base to have Titanic just lying around.

“Tony left them for Steve, said he needed to catch up on modern culture— Ah!” He exclaimed in celebration of uncovering the remote after four cushions had been removed.

“Tony left them? Is Tony not here anymore?” I asked, a bit worried.

“Ah, well no—thank God—OW!” He yelped in mock surprise when the pillow I threw hit him in the back of his head. “You wound me Printesa.” He muttered before starting to place the cushions back on the couch. “Tony went back to New York with Bruce, though he is not away half as much as I would like, Clint went home for a paid indefinite break, Thor is off in space doing I don’t know what, and Vision is spending his summer observing mortal behavior.” He settled back on the couch with me and clicked the ‘Play’ button before leaning his back against the arm of the couch and pulling me between his legs so that my back rested against his chest as the quaint twinkle of the film’s score echoed through the room. “Do not worry though,” he added as we watched the iconic white feather float across the scree, “They will all come back, and we can go see them in New York, we are still a team.” He pulled me closer to him, wrapping his arms around my waist as a smile spread across my face, my worry fading under the comfort of his words. “Now relax, and enjoy the movie.”


	10. Pancakes and Popcorn

I woke to streams of sun filtering in from the glass wall behind me. I closed my eyes breathing in the light as I sunk further into the body beneath me. Pietro’s arms wrapped tighter around me as he hummed in pleasure. He pressed feather light kisses on the crown of my head before nuzzling his cheek against my sun warmed hair. He shifted up on the arm of the couch so he was closer to sitting than lying down, and pulled me up with him, my head falling back to rest on his shoulder. He looked absolutely glorious— _God-like_ as he looked down at me, his white blond hair creating a halo around his sculpted face, scattering rays of light away from his face.

His smile only made him that much more brilliant, “Good morning Printessa.” His voice was thick and raspy, still under the influence of sleep. He leaned down to press a gentle kiss on my lips, pulling away far too soon.

“Good morning to you too,” I smiled back at him before my eyes widened in horror, “Morning? _Oh my God my mom is going to ki—_ ”

“No she won’t.” Wanda’s voice rang out from the kitchen behind us, stopping me from throwing myself off the couch in my panic. She chuckled at the sight of my worried crouch, half on Pietro and half off, stirring her coffee with a long spoon before continuing. “I came down to see if you two were still up last night and I found you both fast asleep. I also noticed that your mother had texted you about when you were going to be getting home, so I gave her a call and said that you would be spending the night. I may have also sent her a picture of the two of you looking absolutely adorable.” She snickered into her coffee cup as she rounded the far corner of the ‘L’ shaped couch and plopped down.

“Oh my god, thank you so much!” I sighed with relief as I reclined back on to Pietro making him chuckle and wrap one arm around my waist while his other hand played with my hair. “Wait, how did you know my password?” I asked stupidly.

“I try not to use my powers to invade other people’s privacy, but I knew I could help and I didn’t want to wake you so I just… peaked in? I’m sorry, I hope you are not mad.” She grew suddenly bashful, as if she wished she could disappear into her coffee cup.

“Oh no, it’s totally fine! It was really nice of you. I thought that was how, I just wanted to make sure.”

She glowed with relief and seemed to grow three inches from where she sat. “Good, I am glad I could help.” She beamed, “By the way, Steve is making pancakes in the kitchen if you two want any.”

“Oh, Steve _is?_!” came a disembodied singsong, sarcastic voice from the kitchen that sounded like Sam, followed by an appreciative grunt from either Rhodey or Nat and a small laugh from the super soldier himself. I flipped over on top of Pietro so I could face him, his eyebrows lifting and face contorting into an expression of amusement as I looked at him with a playful grin. Returning my look he brought his forehead to mine, looking straight in my eyes.

“Would you like a pancake Draga Mea?” He asked, his accent more prominent in his tired voice. I shifted to straddle him as I pecked his lips and answered with a simple nod. He swung his legs, and me on top of them, around so his feet now touched the ground, and in a single graceful move he grabbed me around my thighs and stood from the couch with my legs wrapped around his waist and my arms entwined behind his neck. He walked, at a human pace, over to where Rhodey, Sam and Nat sat at the kitchen island while Steve stood facing the stove, flipping pancakes at an easy rhythm. The two men hollered and whistled as we came over, telling him to “get some, man!” and even placing a sharp smack on his ass as he passed, earning a flustered curse in Sovokian from him and an amused chuckle from Wanda who had followed close behind us. She found a seat next to Nat while Pietro placed me on the counter next to where Steve continued to flip pancakes as he detached himself from me to pull two plates from the cupboard above me. Handing one to me, he took four pancakes from the enormous pile Steve had made on the platter next to me and forked them on to my plate before repeating the action for his own plate. He then left again to rummage through the fridge, and I turned my attention to Steve, who looked like he had finally stopped flipping.

“Good morning, Captain,” I said in a singsongy voice, a warm smile playing across my lips. “Thank you for the pancakes.”

“Thank God for these pancakes.” Nat mumbled producing laughs from the rest of the team, including myself.

“Good morning,” Steve replied with an amused grin as he placed his hands on my hips and lifted my off of the counter, plate still in my hands. I found an empty seat next to Wanda and was quickly joined by Pietro who placed a bowl of cut strawberries on the table along with a can of whipped cream.

“Oh my God, we were meant to be together,” I squealed as I grabbed the whipped cream and began to smother my pancakes in it before taking two heaping spoonfuls of strawberries and sprinkling them over my plate as well. Steve joined the group last, placing the platter of remaining pancakes in the center of the island and taking what must’ve been at least a dozen of them on to his plate.

“Mmmmmmmm, Steve!” I had never tasted pancakes this good before, “you are a god among men.”

“You’re supposed to be saying that about me, Printessa,” Pietro cooed into my ear, before kissing just beneath it. I rolled my eyes at him and nudged his shoulder with mine.

“You already know, I don’t need to say it to you.” I quipped before taking another ludicrously large bit of pancake, whipped cream, and strawberry.

“Hey, no kissing at the table,” Rhodey chimed in “ _Some_ of us are trying to eat here.”

“Oh I am trying to eat…” Pietro murmured as he bit my earlobe and tugged earning a groan of distaste from the rest of the team, a slightly clenched jaw from the Captain, and a sharp jab in the side from me, even through I did chuckle at his antics.

“Well, if you two would stop being so _disgustingly_ in love, I might tell you that Steve and I were planning on giving the team a day off from training…” Nat stated teasingly from across the table. I smiled as I finished chewing a large bite of pancake, glancing over at Pietro who was casting an absolutely _filthy_ look back at me with a grin that could’ve made panties drop from a mile away.

“I’m sure we could find something to do without training…” I started leaning over to peck my boyfriend’s lips as his right hand came up to pinch my ass, eliciting an indignant squeal. Sam and Nat started whooping and playfully fanning us with their napkins while Steve, Wanda, and Rhodey rolled their eyes.

“Alright, alright,” Rhodey began after the laughter had died down and his threat to leave the table had proved to be empty. “Since no one wants to know what _you two_ are doing,” he threw a reproachful look at the two of us, “what’s everyone else gonna be up to today? I was kinda wondering if I should drive to the nearest town and see that new action movie. Anyone wanna come?”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Nat sputtered out as she swallowed a mouthful of pancake, “You _can’t_ be talking about the new terminator movie, right?”

“Yeah, that one. It looks sick,” Stark’s friend replied smoothly. “You wanna come?”

Steve snickered while Sam outright laughed at the poor soldier. He looked around defensively and was only met with looks of pity.

“That—,” Sam coughed, trying not to choke as he laughed, “—that movie looks terrible, man.” Even Wanda was laughing at this point, but Pietro and I couldn’t care less about the conversation. The team continued to tease Rhodey as everyone finished eating, but Pietro and I were lost in our own secret conversation under the table.

It wasn’t long until the seven of us had put away the entire pile of food that Steve had prepared and had started to say their goodbyes. I told the team I would clean up what little breakfast mess there was since Steve had been so kind about making it, and they all thanked me before leaving to enjoy their day off. I gathered the plates from the table as well as the frying pan and silverware and stacked them on the counter next to the sink. I turned back to the table to grab the remaining strawberries and whipped cream so I could put them back in the fridge, but I found that the can of cream was no longer on the table. Shrugging, I put the berries away and went back to work, figuring that someone had put the cream back before leaving to start their day. _Probably Steve,_ I thought to myself as I began rinsing off the first dish on the pile. The job went quickly, almost meditatively as I washed each dish and placed it on the drying rack beside me. The kitchen was equipped with a dishwasher, but it felt good to be cleaning, I even started to sing to myself as I let the warm soapy water run over my hands.

“ _I think the universe is on, my side._

_Heaven and Earth have finally, aligned._

_Days are good, and that’s the way it should be._ ”

I closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling of the sound wrapping around me in the corner of the kitchen. Feeling brave, I sang just a little louder:

“ _I’m in love, love._

_Did you see that shooting—star tonight?_

_Were you dazzled by the same constellations?_

_Did you and Jupiter conspire to get me?_

_I think you and the moon and Neptune got it right,_

_‘Cause now I’m shining bright, so bright_

_Bright, so bright”_

“You have a beautiful voice.” I jumped a foot in the air at the comment behind me and immediately turned from the sink, determined to use what ever I was currently holding as a weapon. Pietro’s eyebrows raised with his hands in a picture of very charmed surrender as I looked down to see that I had been threatening him with a still soapy frying pan. I laughed off my embarrassment as I lowered my “weapon” and turned back to the sink to finish rinsing it.

“You scared me,” I chuckled, scrubbing off the remaining soap and placing the pan in the drying rack with the rest of the dishes. I felt his arms wrap around my waist as I rinsed off my hands and turned off the water. I reached for a towel, but Pietro’s long arm beat me to it, handing it to me before placing his arm back around me.

“You really do have a beautiful voice,” I could feel his lips moving against my hair as he cooed into the back of my head. I folded the towel and laid it down next to the now dry dishes before turning around in the speedster’s embrace and winding my now dry hands in his hair.

“If you keep complimenting me like that I’ll get a big head,” I stood on my tippy toes to plant a little kiss on the tip of his nose.

“I’m only telling you the truth,” he responded, lifting me off the floor to press his lips to mine passionately. “Oh and by the way,” he put me back down and his eyes met mine with a sinful glimmer, “you shouldn’t tease me like that.” I grinned.

“Like what?” I asked innocently, knowing fully well what he was talking about.

“Like at breakfast.” He growled, keeping his eyes locked on mine

“And why shouldn’t I do that?”I challenged him, my eyes narrowing as my smirk widened. The next look he gave me made me weak in the knees. It was as if he wanted to make me laugh and kiss me and reprimand me all at the same time.

“Because it gives me ideas,” He said simply, removing one arm from around my waist to grab the can of whipped cream from the table behind him. I glanced down at it and looked back up at him incredulously and laughing.

“You know I think you might just be the death of me,” I teased.

He smiled, setting the whipped cream down on the counter behind me and placing his hands over my hips.

“I never hurt you, Draga Mea.” He pressed his forehead to mine and we both closed our eyes. “Never.”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Really,” I groaned, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier?”

“What!” My brother countered, “Do you expect me to find out, not only that a band of superheroes exist, but that my sister is _living with them_ and not want to brush up on my Avengers knowledge?” My mother made an understanding hum from across the room, her mouth full of popcorn.

“Alright, alright,” I admitted. “But you’ve all gotta help me look for clues about where Bucky goes in the end.” The family mumbled their agreement and I nodded amiably before digging in to my popcorn and settling in to watch the movie, my eyes trained for anything useful.

Nothing piqued my interest as the movie rolled by, scene after scene of Steve looking gorgeous and Natasha being sexy and powerful, but nothing that could help Steve find Bucky. I sighed as the credits rolled, standing to bring my, and my family’s, empty bowls into the kitchen. I returned just in time to see the post-credits scene, featuring none other than the two twins I had come to befriend in the past week and a half. I cringed as I watched the two of them as they first tried to grasp their newfound talents, Wanda focusing on wooden blocks floating through the air as if they were on strings, and Pietro trying his hardest not to run into any walls in his small room. My heart fluttered as I watched him, but it quickly recovered as I remembered that the same arms that threatened to tear his hair out in frustration had been wrapped around me only hours before. I smiled as I perched on the arm of Mom’s chair, remembering the feel of them around me.

“What are you smiling about?” My younger brother asked, a suspicious smirk growing on his face. I snapped to, cleansing my face of any traces of my grin only to have them replaced with an ever growing blush.

“Nothing.” I replied too fast. My mom turned to look at me now, a lighthearted grin spreading on her cheeks.

“It was the boy wasn’t it?” She always could read me like a book. “Pietro was his name right?” 

I glued my eyes to the floor, making a mental note to ask Natasha to teach me how to lie.

“Hmmm.” My mother hummed, her grin still evident. “Interesting.”

I fled to my room before further teasing could ensue, but there was no stopping my family once they got going. The next day, we all packed up and loaded into the car, moving out to our farm house out of the city to escape the summer heat. The whole ride was littered with innuendos and not-so-subtle jabs at long distance relationships. By the time we arrived, I was ready to hit something—or _someone_.

I trudged up the stairs to my room, dropping my bag on the floor and plopping down on my bed, rubbing my eyes tiredly. Sadly, my brothers’ room was right next to mine, and they were currently moving their bags upstairs too.

“Oh no!” my older brother started sarcastically as he saw my tired eyes. “Looks like someone's been up all night long! Wonder how that could’ve happened… Can't have anything to do with that super-boyfriend, huh?”

“I don’t know,” my younger brother picked up. “Gosh I hope she’s not up like that again tonight!” They snickered as the waddled into their bedroom, their heavy bags weighing them down. I waited until their door had closed before following them into their room. Their grins returned as I approached, ready to tease me again.

“Not,” I began, silencing them, “another word.” My voice shook with frustration and they suddenly got very, very small even though the both of them were a head taller than me. “I want you to listen to me very carefully.” I eyed them with a calm expression. “I’ve been training with superheroes for the past week. Do you really want to test me?”

That was the end of their teasing. But not the end of the summer. No, it trickled by blissfully slowly. I split my time between universes, working at a day camp Monday through Friday and spending weekends, and Friday date nights, with the team. It was easy. There was no major school assignment hanging over my head, no life or death missions that rocked the team. For almost two whole blissful months, everyone around me was happy. But, summer can only last so long.

“Summer’s ending,” I grumbled in my boyfriend’s arms, as we finished another movie.

“It does that sometimes,” came his dry response. I groaned and flopped on top of him so that my stomach rested on his knees as he sat on the couch. He laughed at me, utterly confused before settling on stroking my hair.

“The camp season is over, my brother is at college, and I am going to be senior in _three weeks_ ,” my speech was slurred against the leather of the couch, but he got the message, cursing in his foreign tongue.

“There are times I forget how young you are.” He rubbed his face before looking at me, concerned, “I am not taking advantage of you am I?” I turned my head to face him, holding back a smile as he worried his lip.

“Do you want to take advantage of me?” I purred in my sexiest voice, arching my back to display my assets. He shook his head disapprovingly.

“That is not funny, Dragoste.”

“I wasn’t joking.” I sat up to straddle his lap, taking his face between my hands and looking deep into his eyes. “Listen to me. You are not taking advantage of me. You are only a few years older than me. The older we get, the less the age difference will seem. Got it?”

He nodded before turning to face my palm, kissing the heel of my hand before pulling me closer to him and planting a kiss on my lips.

“Got it.”

I smiled.

“Good. Now I want to show you this movie. It’s a little experiment, so bare with me. I just wanted to watch your reaction.” I popped up from the couch and inserted the DVD of Anna Karenina before settling back down with his arms around me. I watched, reclining on his chest, my finger trained on the pause button as I waited for the right moment. _Almost,_ I thought, _almost… There!_ I paused the movie as I nearly jumped away from Pietro, turning to look at his face. His eyebrows scrunched in confusion and the rose in shock.

“Is that me?” I had frozen the screen on first appearance of Vronsky, the character who would become Anna’s lover.

“Kinda,” I explained. “The actor in my universe that played you also played this part. So he is you, but he isn’t you.” As inefficient as my explanation was he seemed to get the gist of what I was saying.

“Well,” he relaxed back into the couch before pulling me back to him with a crooked smile. “This actor is very attractive.” I rolled my eyes as I played the movie, snuggling into him as I did so.

“You know,” I started, “All you guys are actors in my world, and some of you have done some pretty incriminating movies…” His eyes flicked to mine, curiously, but I cut him off before he asked me to elaborate further. “I’ll tell you about it later, for now, just watch the movie, it’s one of my favorites.


	11. An Unexpected Enemy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: an unwanted kiss

The next day started lazily, as Saturdays usually did at the base, with Steve’s pancakes and the unavoidable teasing that would fly across the breakfast table, usually directed at Pietro and me. But today’s morning was cut short. Halfway through our usual breakfast banter, Agent Hill came over the intercom, telling the team that there had been a new Hydra facility found in Greenland that needed immediate attention and there was a Quinjet taking off in thirty minutes. Half eaten pancakes were left abandoned as each member of the team raced up to their rooms to suit up for the upcoming mission.

By the time twenty minutes had passed, everyone on the team had gathered as the launch pad except for Steve and Pietro. I was dressed in a cold weather bodysuit, standard Shield gear, matching the one that Wanda wore. Next to us was Natasha, in her usual suit claiming that she was practically immune to the cold, taking to War Machine, as Rhodey liked to refer to himself when his was in his ironman suit, and Falcon, who had managed to fit his wing-pack over a heavy winter parka. I focused my energy on making small balls of electricity in my left hand, letting it expand and shirk with every breath I took. I met eyes with Wanda who was staring silently back at the compound, looking more nervous every second. I rested my hand on her shoulder, startling her for a moment before she smiled at me.

“You know my brother will not want you to come on this mission,” She said with a charmed grin.

“You know that if he had his way I’d never go on any missions,” I replied, “That’s why I hid his coat. By the time he shows up, the jet will be in the air with me on it.” Her eyes widened at my plan, looking over her shoulder, sensing someone coming.

“Natasha gave you clearance for the mission, no?” She asked, excited by my deception of her brother.

“She did,” I smirked, “but Steve didn’t. That’s why I asked Hill to prep him on the mission before he got in the jet.” Her grin widened.

“You are a very clever girl.”

“I try.”

She glanced around again.

“Come on, we have to get on the jet now, they are going to be here any minute.” She and I climbed into the hanger and chose seats that were conveniently tucked away in one of the jet’s darker corners as we waited for the rest of the team to board. After a few seconds, Natasha followed us into the Jet, talking intently with Hill who was to be our pilot, followed by Steve and Sam, who were also deep in conversation. As Rhodey and Pietro brought up the rear, claiming their seats in silence, the hanger door closed and the jet lifted off the pad.

“Alright team,” He turned to face the center of the jet, Natasha at his side, “Here’s how this is going to wor—." He stopped short, his eyes falling on me before widening. “You shouldn’t be here.” Members of the team that happened to be in my line of sight turned to see who he was talking to while others, namely Pietro, sprung out of their seats to witness what had halted the Captain’s train of thought so completely.

“Who shouldn’t be here?”

I could hear his voice before he rounded the corner, and I braced myself for the inevitable look of betrayal I was about receive, but as his eyes landed on mine, I didn’t see betrayal, only concern.

“Printessa?” He rushed to me, kneeling in front of me as he plastered his hand to my cheek. “You cannot come.”

“I told her she could,” Natasha spoke dryly as she defended me, earning her glares from both Pietro and Steve as they turned to face her.

“That wasn’t your call to make,” Steve growled.

“She asked, I said yes. She is ready for a mission Steve, you can’t keep her holed up forever.”

“She is too young,” Pietro pleaded with her. “Please let her go back. It is hard enough to watch Wanda fight, but this?”

I stood and walked over to him, pulling his shoulder out to draw his attention.

“Pietro, I am no younger than you were when you started going out and protesting.” I was sure that they could see the fire in my eyes as I reprimanded him before turning to Steve. “And you! I am _older_ than you were when you first tried to enlist in the army.”

“That was different.” He towered over me, his eyes boring holes in mine.

“You’re damn right it was. _You_ didn’t have super powers. _You_ didn’t have the greatest fighters in the world training you. You were willing to _die_ to stand up for what you believe in, why can’t I?” I was seething mad at this point, but I could see his expression soften, his cold blue eyes weakening for a moment as he took a step towards me.

“I can’t let you die.”

I was taken aback by his sudden tenderness.

“I won’t.” My voice was soft, but it was so quiet in the jet that if a pin had dropped at least three people would’ve shot at it. “I promise.” My heart broke as his eyes hardened in stubbornness and the firm resolve of the Captain came to replace the man I had come to know so intimately.

“I guess that’s all I can ask for.” He looked at me for a moment, then glancing at the ground before addressing the team. “Now here’s how the mission will go. As our sources have confirmed, this base has Hydra intel that has the potential to threaten the safety of the world.”

“How exactly does that work?” Rhodey asked.

“Apparently, they’ve been working on portals to call on extraterrestrial life,” he turned to look at me. “In fact, they may have even been the ones that opened up the portal that brought you here in the first place.”

I tensed at that, wondering what other places these portals could go. Pietro wrapped his arms around me from where he stood behind me, kissing the top of my head as my body relaxed.

Steve continued, “The base isn’t too heavy guarded, it was never really taken seriously, even by Hydra. No one thought they would be able to do anything, but in light of recent events,” he gestured to me, “as well as some unusual heat signals coming from this area, it seems they were far more serious than Hydra thought.”

“What’s the game plan?” Sam crossed his arms over his chest, his work voice taking over his usual playful tone.

“The base is low,” Nat started, “only two floors are above ground, but beneath them, there are another ten.” She pulled up an image on the screen beside her, then a hologram appeared in the center of the jet. We all gathered around the glowing image as she began assigning our tasks. “Falcon and I are going in first, flying up to the roof where we’ll clear a path for the rest of you. Next we’re going to need War Machine over here to fly the rest of the team down two at a time. Once you’re all on the roof, we’ll try to infiltrate the building. Remember we want to go in _unnoticed,_ we’ll have to save our fireworks for the way out. First, Wanda and I are going to make our way down to the lower levels, find the scientists, stop whatever they’re doing and convince them to come back to Shield with us. If they say yes, we’re gonna need a clear path up so Steve and War Machine are going to follow us and keep the road open. But if they say no, we’re gonna need to get the intel and get out, so Pietro will run down to their lab and download whatever he can on this flash drive.” She tossed Pietro a small drive that he caught effortlessle. She turned to me, “After that you go in with Falcon and fry every wire in the place.”

“No,” Pietro declared, his hold on me tightening, “She stays outside, or with me. I am not taking my eyes off of her.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Pietro, please. I’ll be fine. Sam and I work well together, we’ll have each other’s backs.”

“I’ve got her man,” Sam backed me up, “I’m not gonna let anything happen to your girl today.”

Pietro nodded his agreement begrudgingly.

“So we’re all clear?” Nat asked, her eyebrows raised as she surveyed the group. She was met by a series of grumbles and “yes ma’am”’s as the team dispersed to find seats around the jet.

“Good,” Steve said. “We’ll be over the target in an hour and a half. We’ll let you know when to get ready.” I relaxed in to Pietro’s arms as we found a bench in the dark part of the jet that Wanda and I had been hiding in before. He stroked my hair as he murmured to me in Sokovian.

“I wish you were not coming on this mission,” he whispered to me, his lips brushing against my ear.

I sighed, “Pietro, you can’t always protect me. I’m well trained, I’ll be fine.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead.

“I will always protect you Printessa. Always.”

The jet arrived at the drop point in record time, Hill startling everyone when she gave the ten minute warning. We all prepped ourselves as the jet hovered over target, giving reassuring pats on the back and the occasional “Good luck” to whoever looked like they needed it. Falcon and Nat flew from the jet first, the harsh cold nipping at the whole team as the hanger door opened. Once they radioed the all clear, Rhodey’s mask came down and he started to guide the rest of us down, first Wanda and I, followed by Pietro, and finally Steve.

“Alright, Wanda and I are going in,” Nat recapped, “Steve and Rhodey follow behind, make sure we’ve got a clear exit. We’ll cue you three,” she looked at Sam, Pietro, and me, “once we’ve heard from the scientists. Shouldn’t be long—maybe ten minutes.” We all nodded our understanding.

“No one should be coming up here,” Steve mentioned before the team dissipated, “so it should be calm, but still,” he looked pointedly at me, “stay safe.”

I rolled my eyes, “Honestly Steve, I fought with you Sokovia. How long are you going to baby me?”

Ignoring me, he shifted his gaze to Sam and Pietro, “Watch her.” And with that, he turned and followed Nat, Wanda, and Rhodey down the dark tunnel-like stairs to the second floor.

“Ugh! The nerve of him!” I threw up my hands and sat against the wall of the enclosed staircase, crossing my arms in frustration and an attempt to stay warm. Sam chuckled as he sat in the snow beside me.

“What do you expect? You’re the youngest of the group, of course he’s gonna baby you for a while,” he looked at my unhappy face as Pietro crouched by the perimeter of the roof, scanning for enemies. “Look kid, he likes you, and he’s seen too many friends go down in the line of battle, but he’ll get over it soon.” He patted me on the back before standing, “Now I would recommend you stand up before your toes start to freeze.” I grinned as I allowed him to pull me up and began to bounce on my toes next to him to keep my blood flowing.

A few minutes had passed before we got a call from Nat on the coms, her voice sounding through all our ear pieces “Falcon, you copy?”

“What’s happening Nat?” Sam replied.

“The scientists are a no-go, looks like we’re at plan B. You got Speedy there?”

Pietro rushed over from the edge of the roof. “I’m here,” he spoke into his com.

“Good, take the flash drive down to floor negative nine, Cap will meet you when you get there and point you towards the computer room. I need you to download whatever you can in two minutes and then get out of there, you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Go.” In a flash of blue he was gone, disappearing through the stairs.

“When do you want us to go Nat?” Sam asked through the com.

“I’m coming back up with War Machine and Wanda, but we’re maneuvering some very unconscious scientists so it may take longer than expected. Once Steve meets up with us we’ll move faster. You guys start in another sixty seconds alright? That should give Pietro enough time.” I saw Sam start the timer on his watch, sixty seconds on the clock. “Just be careful guys, there are more Hydra agents than we thought.”

“Will do Nat, see you soon.” I answered as Sam ended the com.

“You ready?” he smiled at me.

“Born ready.” I watched as the final seconds flicked away on my watch, “three, two, one. Let’s go.”

We tore down the stair case, Sam in front and me following close behind. We pulled on to the second floor, ripping through the doorway as we ran to the electrical box in the center of the building. I knew exactly where it was from the floorplan Nat had showed us and remembered her specific instructions to me: _Disable their electronics completely. If one computer is left on, they’ll retain the information._ Approaching the grey box, I opened it and placed my hand over the switch board, sending a current through it, wiping out the lights on the whole floor. I felt an unpleasant zing in my ear and removed my now smoking ear piece.

_Great,_ I thought to myself, throwing it to the ground. I could hear voices from down the hall complaining about the loss of light and I knew we wouldn’t have long on each floor before we were found out. Gripping Sam’s hand, I pulled him down the hall, away from the voices, and back into the stairwell.

“I busted my earpiece,” I informed him as we dashed down the stairs. “This is a lot of running.” I panted as I jumped down the stairs. “Why did Nat put me with you instead of Pietro?”

We turned through the door to the first floor only to come face to face with a hoard of large security men.

“That’s why,” Sam responded. “Go down the corridor to the right, find the box, then come help me.”

“Are you sure?” I was already edging towards the hallway, but I didn’t want to leave him.

“Don’t start doubting me now,” he laughed. “Go.”

Without another glance I took off down the hallway, turning left then right again until I found the box. Pressing my hand to it and disabling it like the first, I turned to find that at least half of the men that we had seen by the stairwell had now found me. The lights of the floor flickered out and I grinned at their sudden panic.

Summoning balls of electricity in each hand, I launched them into the crowd in front of me, hitting two men square in the chest with my blind throw. The others tried to come towards me, but as soon as they got close I hit them with another blast, sending them flying backwards with the rest of their fallen comrades, quivering in the aftershocks. Once the last one laid crumpled on the ground, I turned, running back the way I had come. I heard Sam calling my name in the dark hall before I nearly ran into him.

“Shut up! Do you want more of them to come?” I slapped him on the chest.

“Some of them left to follow you, I didn’t know if you would be alright,” his look of worry transformed into a proud grin as he surveyed my unharmed state. “But it looks like you handled them just fine.”

I smiled myself at his sly compliment before remembering that we were on a mission.

“Come on, lets finish up. We only have ten more boxes to go.”

The rest of the floors went smoothly, only scientists were allowed below the ground floor so there were no more run ins with security, and with Sam staying by the stairwell as the lights went out of each and every underground floor, flooding the entire base in darkness, it looked like we’d be home before noon. By the time we reached the negative tenth floor, we were beyond exhausted.

“Come on. One more.” I panted under my breath as we descended the final flight of stairs.

“You sure you want me to stay here for this one?” Sam asked as he looked around the bottom floor of the base. His worries weren’t unjustified, this floor was different from all the others, bigger and more complex, too complicated for me to memorize the entire floorpan. I had tried to focus on what I needed to know: how to get to the electrical box and back, but even that memory was becoming fuzzy after all the other runs on the previous floors.

“No, no you say here,” I decided. “If I get lost in the dark, I want to be able to find my way back.” I locked eyes with him, strategizing, “If I’m gone for more than three minutes, start calling my name, I’ll be able to follow the sound back to the stairs.”

He nodded, “Good plan. Now go, let’s get this over with.”

I turned from him and started running down the hallway. _Right_ , I though as I veered into the next path, _now straight—and now a hard left at the big lab,_ I turned again, running full force down the corridor. _And one more left_ , I turned and saw the gray box sitting in the middle the hallway. I ran towards it, opened it, and shorted it out like all the others, expecting to be left in blackness.

But I wasn’t. A pale purple light bathed the hallway. My breath hitched, as I turned towards the far end of the hallway only to find another lab, the light leaking from its windows. I walked towards it carefully, pushing open the glass door to find a swirling purple portal sitting in the center of the room. I gasped at the sight of it, it was beautiful. Unconfined, it stood floating in the room twisting and turning in a vortex. I was mesmerized by it. I reached out my hand to touch it, wanting to feel its warmth in the cold building, my fingertips almost brushing against it when—

“It’s you.”

I jumped when I heard the voice, hearing it’s chuckle echo through the room. A tall man stepped out from the shadows of the room.

“Have the Avengers been letting you out on missions already? I’m impressed.”

“Who are you?” I asked, wanting to sound intimidating, but finding it utterly impossible as the gentle glow of the purple light used all my worries away.

“You’ll see, dove.” He spoke to me as a lover would, brushing a stray hair behind my ear that way that Pietro always does. I’m not going to lie, the man was attractive, young, tall, and built, but the glint of his eye made him look absolutely sinister.

“How do you know me?” I asked, growing dizzier under the haze of the twisting portal.

He leaned forward to whisper in my ear. “Where do you think you were the night before you found the Avengers?”

My eyes grew wide as they met his, they were a piercing shade of green, the kind of green that seems entirely unnatural.

I heard Sam yell my name from the stairs. Three minutes were up.

“Until next time, my little dove,” he whispered before wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me close to him to plant a gentle and unnerving kiss on my lips.

“Good bye.” He side stepped into the portal leaving me to stand in utter shock of what had just happened.

Sam’s voice came again, closer now as he came to find me. I wanted to run to him, but just being by that light, I couldn’t. I could feel it swelling and contracting, as if it were alive, sending vibrations around the room. They were small at first but soon they began to knock vials off shelves, books off tables, the whole building was shuttering around me. I came to my senses as fast I could, turning and walking away from the spasming portal and out the door. I was halfway through the hall when Sam rounded the corner, running towards me.

“What are you doing? I’ve been calling you f—” his voice cut off as he saw the light that flooded the hallway, as the vibrations grew stronger. “ _Christ._ Okay, we have to go _now_. Do you understand?”

I nodded numbly.

“I need you to run for me okay? I don’t know what happened to you, but I need you to run for me.” He grabbed my hand and led me through the hall, turning right, then right, then left, his free hand trailing over the wall to feel where it ended. Pulling me into the stairwell, another larger tremor shook the building, throwing me to my knees.

“You have to get up. We have to go, now.” Sam pulled at my arm trying to get me up, but I was gone. My mind was wrapped in that purple light, calm and slow, always moving around, and around, and around.

“Shit.” Sam yelled as he hoisted me over his shoulder and began to climb the stairs.

“Sam, whats going on down there?” Steve yelled into the com.

“The place is going to hell in a hand basket!” Sam yelled as he cleared floor negative eight. “You’ve gotta get the Quinjet on the roof _now_ before the whole building goes down!” Another tremble hit, sending Sam and me tumbling towards a wall, but he quickly regained his balance, running up the next flight of stairs.

“Is she with you?!” It was Pietro’s voice now.

“Yeah, yeah I’ve got her its just—”

“ _Just what?_ ” Pietro screamed into the com.

“I don’t know!” Floor negative five. Seven more. “She’s acting strange, I think something may have happened down there, I don’t know.”

“Where are you?” He growled into the com.

“Stairwell,” Sam panted. “Negative fourth floor.” The words had barely left his mouth before Pietro had appeared in front of us, a scowl on his face that would terrify anyone in its range. His expression only turned deadlier when he saw me slung over Sam’s back.

“You said you would take care of her,” he growled as he took me in his arms, cradling me against his chest.

“I know, I’ll tell you about it when we get to the top.” Sam panted out.

“I’ll be back in a second.” Pietro muttered as he sped me through the trembling building on to the roof where he placed me in the Captains arms. He then zoomed off again, only to reappear with Sam who was drenched with sweat from all the physical exertion. I was then given back to Pietro as Steve waved down the jet and ushered everyone inside, helping Pietro place me on the emergency table. I was aware of all this, but I simply couldn’t find it in me to do anything about it. I could hear Pietro urging me to look at him as he gripped my hand, but I wouldn’t. How could I when the light had been so beautiful? So beautiful…

Suddenly Pietro’s hand was gone, replaced by Wanda’s. I wouldn’t look at her either. _I won’t look at anyone ever again_ , I mused to myself, _Only the light, that beautiful beautiful light_ …

“She is under hypnosis,” I could hear Wanda say, but it was like I was under water, her voice swirled around me. “I can bring her out of it. Just hold on.” I could feel her fingertips on my temple, still cold from standing on the roof for so long. Cold. So cold…

I gasped as I sat bolt upright, my eyes wide and blinking furiously. There was a collective sigh of relief from the team as they all patted Wanda on the back encouragingly. Well, all of them except for Pietro who was hugging me to him so tightly I think the both of us forgot how to breath. When he pulled away his eyes were still filled with concern, as were those of the rest of the team.

“What happened Printessa?” he asked as he moved to brush my hair behind my ear, but I flinched away from his hand. Hurt washed over his face at my rejection. “What happened?” he asked again, hurt replaced with terror. The whole team was looking at me now, even Hill who had put the jet on auto pilot back to the base.

I glanced around the team. “In all honesty I’m not really sure.” I shook with fear and guilt. “I don’t know what he meant. An-and the light, it was just so beautiful—”

“Who?” Steve asked, “What light?”

I couldn’t find a good place to start, I was fighting to find words when Sam saved me for a second time that day.

“Was this the light in the hallway?”

I nodded grimly, and the team looked to him for an explanation.

“When I went to find her on the negative tenth floor, after the lights had gone out, she was in a hallway that was filled with this purple light. That was where the tremors were coming from.”

Rhodey looked back to me. “What was it?”

I took a deep breath. “It was a portal. Once I saw it, it was like I couldn’t look away, not until he came at least.”

“Who?” Steve asked for a second time, more demanding than before.

“I didn’t know him. But he knew me.” I could feel myself shrinking under the eyes of the team before rambling on. “He kept calling me his little dove, and I asked him how he knew me and he said that I was with him the first night I came here before I found you. But I don’t remember him and he said that I would see him again and then he kissed me and stepped into the portal.” I rambled through the rest of my story, my heart beating faster and faster with each word. “I wanted to fight him but the light was just _so_ beautiful, it was like nothing mattered. I couldn’t control myself.” I looked up at Steve. “I was helpless.”

“That is what you were thinking about when we brought you here,” Wanda said, “I could hear your thoughts even when you were coming up the stairs, about the light.”

I nodded. “I don’t know what it was, but I couldn’t move, I couldn’t _think_ , I was powerless against it.” I looked over at Sam and smiled for the first time since I got on the jet. “If it weren’t for Sam, I wouldn’t be here at all.”

“If it weren’t for Sam you wouldn’t have seen the light in the first place.” Pietro snapped, staring daggers at the Falcon. “What were you thinking? Letting her go out there, _alone_? I thought you said you would take care of her and now I hear that she has been in the hands of this mad man?”

“Pietro, stop,” I pleaded with him, jumping down from my seat on the table to place my hands on his chest. “It was my idea for him to stay there, I thought it would be easier to get back to the stairwell in the dark if I had his voice to guide me. Please don’t blame him, he saved me.”

He wouldn’t look at me, he was still glaring at Sam, putting everyone on the jet on edge, ready to break up a fight should there be one.

“If it wasn’t his fault, then you should not have been there in the first place.” He turned his face away from Sam’s to storm away from the group. “You are not going on any more missions until you are ready.” He sat in the seat furthest away from the rest of us. I made to go after him, but Wanda’s soft touch on my shoulder stopped me.

“Let me, I will quell his anger.” She assured me with a gentle smile as she turned to sit with her brother. I walked, crestfallen, to the nearest chair where I nearly collapsed, holding my head in my hands. I felt the bench next to me dip and I looked up to see Steve sitting next to me. I leaned my head against his shoulder as his arm wrapped around me.

“What do I do now?” I asked like a lost child.

“Sleep,” he answered. I was all to happy to comply.


	12. Bad Dreams

The jet landed around two in the afternoon, not that I would know or care. I had only the vaguest memory of Steve carrying me off the jet and up to my room in the compound before my deep sleep captured me once again. I must’ve slept for hours in the quiet of my room before my dreamless sleep began to morph. I could see the light on the backs of my eyelids, dancing and turning with every thought. I could feel it sparking and burning the air around me. It was far from tranquil this time, no this was an attack. I couldn’t breath, I couldn’t think, I was stuck just as before until I—

My body writhed with pain as I woke up, uncomfortably on the floor. My breath was ragged as I tried to overcome the effects of my nightmare. I sat up against the bed. My head was pounding and my hip was surly bruised from when I landed on it, but other than that I was fine. _You’re fine_ , I repeated the sentence to myself in my head, _You’re safe. You’re with the Avengers. Nothing is going to hurt you here._ Rubbing my eyes, I stood and made my way to the bathroom. I splashed some water on my face then cupped my hands under the running faucet and drank as much as I could.

Walking out of my room, the familiar aroma of chinese food wafted up to the fourth floor hallway. I smiled. I was the one who had suggested chinese food Saturdays, figuring a bit of regularity would be a small comfort to a group of heroes that could be called to battle at any minute. I made my way down stairs to find the rest of the team piling their plates with various arrangements of stir fry and rice.

“Hey there, sleeping beauty.” Nat was the first to see me. “Welcome back to the land of the living.”

I grabbed a plate and loaded it with vegetable dumplings and noodles as I smiled back at her, as strongly as I could manage. “Ha ha, Nat,” I croaked, my voice still sore from sleep. My attempt at lightheartedness didn’t seem to fool a single member of the team, least of all Pietro who watched me with increasingly worried eyes even though he kept his distance. Steve came up behind me to pat me on the back.

“Nightmare?” He whispered close to my ear so no one else would hear.

I nodded.

“I’m sorry. Next time it happens come get me alright?”

I nodded again, knowing full well that I would do no such thing. It was rare enough for the Captain to sleep at all, it’s not like I was going to disturb that for some stupid nightmare. I took my plate and sat at the coffee table as usual for Saturday nights as Rhodey played the movie he had picked for us to watch, filled with explosions and action. Typical.

I excused myself halfway through the movie, rinsing my plate in the sink before putting it in the dishwasher. I looked at the rest of the team, Rhodey undeniably engrossed in the film, as well as Steve, while Sam and Natasha only looked bored and distracted. I smiled at my little second family before drudging up the stairs back to my room. Closing the door, I leaned against it, closing my eyes for a moment before crossing to my bed. I didn’t want to sleep, not yet, but feeling the mattress hold me was soothing. I turned to look out my window, watching the last lights of the base go out for the night.

There was a gentle knock behind me, but I still jumped at the sound, still on edge from the mission. I sighed at my nervousness and stood to open the door. Behind it was Sam, leaning against the door frame with his forearm and looking ridiculously guilty.

“What’s up, Sam?” I questioned, widening the door with concerned eyes.

“I just had to apologize,” he started, looking down at me. “It’s just that—it’s been bothering me ever since we got back on the jet. I— you—.”

“You can’t possibly think what I found was your fault?” I couldn’t believe he was trying to come up here and apologize after everything he had done for me, but in answer he only hung his head. “Look at me,” I commanded. “You saved my life today. I found something…unpleasant, but, from the way the guy was talking, it was something that was going to be found eventually anyway,” I shuddered at the memory, “So now I know about it. He warned me. It’s a good thing.” I was trying to convince myself as much as I was trying to convince him by the end of my speech, but judging by his slight smile, I had done a pretty good job.

“Alright, Sparks,” he admitted reluctantly before ruffling the top of my head.

I groaned, “You can’t start babying me too!”

He laughed at me and turned to walk back down to the movie, stopping after a few steps and turning back to check on me compassionately.

“If you need anything tonight—something to help you sleep, or get rid of nightmares—you let me know, alright?”

I nodded and he smiled before we both turned away from the other. I shut my door again before shaking my head, I was even less likely to wake him than Steve. I glanced at the digital clock across the room. _9:15_. I rubbed my eyes, tired even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep for at least another hour. I decided to have some me time, grabbing a fresh set of clothes, given I was still in my Shield regulation uniform, and heading into the bathroom for a much needed warm shower.

By the time I was done with my shower and the rest of my nightly routine it was five minutes to ten. I walked over to my crisp white blanket and found myself wishing that Pietro was with me. I wasn’t like I stayed with him whenever I was in the base, but it wasn’t unheard of for one of us to sneak into the others room in the beginning of the night. Nothing had really happened during those nights, Pietro had always respected my boundaries, but it was good to have someone to hold. I slipped under my blanket and tried to gather it in my arms, hugging it tightly to my body. It wasn’t long before sleep over took me for a second time today.

I woke with a start, my body shaking uncontrollably, tears streaming down my face, I tried to wipe them away but another came to take the place of each one I dried. It had been the portal again, and that man. I know I have seen him before, but no memories had come back to me. I was so confused and tired and _in pain_. It felt like I was burning from the inside out. I looked over at the clock again. _11:59._ I got out of my bed, my feet finding support for my body on the cold floor as I stepped forward. A wave of nausea hit me like a truck on my third step and I found my body hightailing it to the toilet bowl before my sleep addled mind could order it to do so. My hands shook against the porcelain bowl, afraid releasing it would send my body tumbling to the floor. Once I was done, I sat back, scooting up against the wall behind me. I ran my hands through my hair, only to find that I had gotten vomit in it when my hands had refused to leave the toilet seat to hold it back. I closed my eyes and tried to compose myself. _Just keep moving forward. Solve the problem at hand._ I stood unsteadily from the floor, stepping forward to grip at the sink basin. Leaning forward I rinsed the soiled tips of my hair vigorously, scrubbing at them with shaking hands until they were certifiably clean. Flinging the damp hair to my back, I pulled out my tooth brush and attempted to rinse the vile taste from my mouth. I put the brush back in its holder and, for the first time that night, I took a good look at myself in the mirror. I was a mess. There were dark purple circles under my eyes while my lids were still puffy and red from crying. I closed my eyes and turned away from my reflection, refusing to let it phase me. I stepped back into my room, using the wall for support, but found the idea of going back to my bed impossible.

_I refuse to welcome sleep only to have it spit me back out like last time,_ I barked in my mind, turning and walking out the door. I looked towards Steve’s door, remembering his request that I go to him, but hearing his snores I turned the other direction and headed down the stairs. _I’ll just go to the living room_ , I thought, _wait out the night there._ I turned after the last stairs, walking down the hall that would lead me to my destination, but I stopped halfway through it. Looking to my left, I saw the familiar door to Pietro’s room. The sight of it brought tears back to my eyes. I hated the way he had avoided me before, so full of anger and worry.

I turned to face his door and, mustering all the strength I could, raised my fist to knock three times. It was the pattern I always used when I came down to him. I could hear him stir in his bed before his feet hit the floor, thumping groggily over to the door. He opened it still half asleep, but he was completely awake when he noticed my tear streaked face. He pulled me into his chest as I shook.

“Shhh. Shhh Draga mea, it’s alright,” he murmured against my hair. He pulled me into his dark room, closing the door behind me, and lifted me in his arms, as if I weighed no more than a feather, carrying me to the bed. He laid next to me before wrapping his arms around me again and pulling me on top of him.

“I’m—I’m sorry,” I choked out between sobs, still quivering like a leaf. “I didn’t want to scare you, I shouldn’t have every gone _near_ that light. It was so stupid. _I_ was so stupid,” I sobbed.

“No, no, no, my Printessa,” he whispered, clutching me tighter, “You were right. You were so brave. I should not have been mad at you, I just couldn’t stand to see you hurt.” He leaned down to kiss my forehead as he rocked me gently on the bed. “And the thought of that man getting close enough to _kiss_ you.” He was growling now, and he pulled away to look me in the eyes before asking, “He didn’t do anything else did he? He didn’t hurt you?” I shook my head stupidly and he pulled me back into his arms. “It’s alright Printessa, just sleep. Just sleep.” He stroked my hair until I nodded off in his arms.

———————————————————————————————————————

I woke the next morning to the steady heartbeat of Pietro Maximoff and the sun shining brightly on the fields outside of his window. I smiled at the warmth streaming in from his window. His room was on the other side of the building compared to mine, so his west facing wall was made of one way glass looking into the forest. I sighed and rolled on top of him, resting my face against his heartbeat while I gazed out the window.

I felt his hand come up to stroke my hair as his chest vibrated with a content hum. “Good morning Printessa,” he murmured. I lifted my head to look at him, his eyes still closed.

“I’m sorry, did I wake you?” my eyebrows furrowed in concern.

His eyes opened slowly as a smirk spread across his face, “There is nothing better to wake up to.” He pulled my face to kiss him, relaxing back into the pillow while I traced mindless patterns on his muscular arms.He moaned into my mouth as we rolled on the bed, our lips folding together, tongues sliding against each other passionately. Shirts were about to come off, well mine since he slept shirtless, when there was a harsh knock at the door.

“Hey, Pietro,” came Sam’s call from the other side of the door. “Do you have your girl in there?”

Pietro cursed from his position between my legs, rolling his eyes.

“Yes, you fucking cockblock,” he hollered making me giggle. “Just give me ten minutes.” He returned to kissing his way down my neck.

I could hear Sam sigh from behind the door.

“Pietro we need her in the living room,” he pleaded.

“And I need her in my bed,” he growled just loud enough for Sam to hear.

He groaned his disgust, “Come on man! I was sent to get her. I nearly had a heart attack when she wasn’t in her room, just give me a break.”

I decided to take pity on the poor guy, besides, I hated to hear that I had worried him.

“Pietro.”

He looked up at me from his position at the hem of my shirt.

“Let me up.”

He was bewildered. “But we—!”

“Pietro,” I warned.

He huffed like a small child and stood off the bed, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting as I stood after him.

“It is not fair,” he grumbled behind me as I made my way to the door.

I put my hand on the door nob before turning to him and pressing my hips to his. “I’ll just have to make it up to you later then.” He groaned and leaned forward to capture my lips again, but I left his touch much too soon for his liking and flung open the door to reveal Sam leaning against the wall with his hands pressed over his ears.

“You know these doors are really freaking thin.”

“Then you should’ve been able to hear how _busy we were—_.”

“Boys. Knock it off.” I turned from their little display and made my way down to the living room where I found Vision talking to Steve. “Wow! Long time no see buddy!” I bounded down the stairs and wrapped my arms around him. He seemed confused by this gesture, and was rather relieved when I released him. _Add that to the growing list of things to explain to him_. “What are you doing here?”

“I had been following the man you encountered yesterday for the past few months, according to Tony’s request,” his accented voice ringing through the room. “After hearing of your contact with him I wanted to ask you about it.” He glanced back at Steve before continuing, “He told me of your experience with the portal. I must ask how you have been feeling.” He looked at me concerned.

My eyes danced around the room. I wanted to appear strong for the team, but I knew that catching this guy meant gathering intel, and right now, I was intel.

I sighed, “Not well.”

He nodded understandingly and guided me to sit on the long L shaped couch while he sat on the other end to my left facing me. Pietro came up next to me, putting an arm around my waist while Steve and Sam planted themselves in the arm chairs to my right.

“Please,” Vision started, “Explain.”

I went into my dreams, how they started off frightening and ended painful like last night.

“It felt like I was on fire inside,” I rubbed my hands together anxiously, “But that doesn’t make any sense. How can a dream make me hurt?” I glanced around the room franticly, met only with worried expressions until my eyes fell on Vision.

“I believe I know what happened.”

Eyebrows around the room shot up and everyone shifted forward in their seats to hear his theory.

“After looking at some of their files, I found that this man, Erik Collier, has been working with the experimentation of portals and human abilities. I had seen some of their results and found them to be quite horrifying, no one had survived their tests according to their records, although there was one file that seemed to be unfinished. Each file was labeled after where their test subject was from in the parallel universe. The unfinished one was labeled ‘New York’.”

I felt my blood run cold, but Vision continued despite the lack of blood in my face.

“I did not want to believe that you were one of his experiments, but according to the information you have provided, any other explanation seems unlikely.” I was shaking again and I could feel Pietro pulling me closer to him, but Vision only continued. “They would take a subject from your universe and then concentrate the radiation of the portal while the subject was under hypnosis. This, they hoped, would grant said individual powers.”

“What radiation?” Sam challenged. “There isn’t any radiation from the portal at the base?”

“That is a man made portal, it was engineered to be a safe passageway. This other portal is natural, a gaping hole in the fabric of space and time,” Vision clarified. “It is like the difference between a tunnel and a cave going through a mountain.” He looked back at me, “The pain you felt was probably a muscle memory of when they had concentrated the radiation of the portal on you body. That plus the chemicals they used to isolate your powers would’ve created a burning sensation through your veins that could be triggered by particular memories of the portal later on.”

“Why me?” My voice came out as a croak. All eyes turned to me, I struggled to find my voice again. “Why me?” I demanded looking at the crimson man.

His eyes softened. “They could choose from all of space and time. They wanted someone who was from the same time period so they would not be confused by technology. They wanted someone who the Avengers would trust so they found someone—.”

“Wait, what? Why did the Avengers need to trust me?” I asked, confused.

“You were to be sent to kill them.” He started, startling me and the rest of the room. “But it seems as if that plan has been rejected.”

The room relaxed again.

“At this point I cannot honestly say what their plan for you is.” That was a bit comforting I thought as I leaned back into the couch. I took a deep breath and a small, shy smile came back to my face.

“I know what my plan for you is!”

I turned to find none other than Tony Stark waiting at the top of the stairs, his arms opened wide. A wide grin broke across my face as I ran up to meet him, wrapping my arms around his torso.

“There she is!” he ruffled my hair before pulling me out of our hug. “And that plan by the way involves shopping and a shit ton on ice cream. I heard about your brush with the mad scientist. Yikes. And I thought _our_ mad scientist was bad.”

“I’m not mad Tony, but you won’t like me when I am,” came a voice behind him.

“Bruce!” I ran to wrap me arms around him as well.

“Hey, how’ve you been feeling?” he asked, pulling back to examine my expression.

“I have already asked,” Vision came flying up to met the scientists. “It is as we thought.” His answer was solemn, and was met with unsurprised but saddened faces.

“Don’t worry kiddo, we’re not gonna let them get to you,” Tony reassured me as Bruce patted me on the back. “Come on there’s an expensive couch we should be sitting on.” The four of us went down the stairs, the others finding places on the couch while I settled back into my old seat, relaxing into Pietro’s arms with an apologetic look for my aforementioned actions. He smiled and kissed my cheek softly before leaning back into the furniture with my head on his shoulder. Our exchange didn’t go unnoticed by Tony.

“Stop canoodling with my little girl,” he grumbled at Pietro making me scoff.

“Your little girl? Weren’t you trying to get us together in the first place?” I teased.

He rolled his eyes, “ _Everyone_ was. You two kept ogling each other, something had to be done. But I don’t have to like it.” He was glaring daggers at Pietro. “Besides since you father is about—oh—a universe away, you need someone to protect you from heartbreak.”

“And that someone is you Tony?” I smirked back at him.

“It is a duty I do with honor.”

I laughed at him and pulled Pietro in for a long kiss enticing groans from the rest of the room. I could vaguely hear the “You should’ve heard them this morning…” from Sam before he threw one of his throw pillows at us and we broke away laughing.

“Uh Tony,” Bruce started, “Wasn’t there something you wanted to say?”

He looked confused for a minute but soon a look of realization crossed his face. “Oh! Yeah right! FRIDAY, tell the team to get their asses down here.” He glanced at our bemused expressions before continuing, “Yes Bruce and I did drive up here because e heard about what had happened to you, but we also have very good news! We just need to wait until the rest of the team gets down here…” After another minute or so the team started trickling down the stairs, finding seats around the couch. Last to come down was Rhodey who groaned when he saw Tony and turned to go back upstairs but was stopped when the entire team begged him to sit so that Tony could say what he needed to say and we could all go back to doing what we were doing before.

He glanced around the room and I could see a faint glimmer in his eyes before his face went completely deadpan, “Well I’ve been thinking of getting a nipple piercing—.”

“ _Tony_.” Bruce warned.

“—and Pepper and I might be engaged.” Everyone noted their surprise with delighted squeals or hearty “Ah!”s and many came up to pat Ironman on the back in congratulations.

“I knew you had it in you man,” Rhodey teased as he pulled his friend in for a bro hug.

Tony rolled his eyes. “Yeah yeah. So we all know what this means?” He addressed the group again.

“You’re getting laid,” I shot out earning a high five from Sam.

“That,” Tony acknowledged with a cocked brow, “And an engagement party. This Saturday. You are all invited and encouraged to bring dates, although I will make an acceptation for you Steve.”

The super soldier scoffed at the billionaire.

“You all better be there.”

We all nodded our agreement, it’s not like any of us had anything better to do.

“And," Tony continued, "I was thinking you guys could move back out to the tower for a while. Get out of the forest, see some people.” He suddenly looked sheepish, well as sheepish as Ironman gets.

I smirked, “Tony Stark, do you miss us?”

“No ma’am, absolutely not. I’m simply trying to get Capsicle laid. It’s a public service really.”

“Bull. Shit.” Rhodey called.

“Aw look, he isn’t made of metal after all.” Nat taunted.

“Ok, alright, _alright fine_ ,” he clamored as the team slowly quieted, “So I’ll see you all at the Tower on Friday night. No exceptions.” He scanned the room accusatorially. “Good. Now Bruce and I would love to check on the labs,” he turned to me, “the portal in the Tower is finished I just have to hook it up with the main frame here, and then we should be on our way, wanna beat the rush hour traffic into the city. Feel free to go about your business.”

Everyone stood up and made their way back to their rooms or outside to train. Pietro and I were about to go back up to his room when Tony’s voice stopped us. “Not you two. You two should stay here. In the living room. A public space. Where anyone could walk in at anytime.” His message was clear, but we decided to ignore it, glaring back at him playfully as we took the first step up the stairs. “I may have also lowered the temperature in both of your rooms to thirty degrees. Oops damn air conditioning.”

Both Pietro and I turned to him with disbelief evident in our expressions, but Tony simply shrugged and turned to walk outside with Bruce, heading back out to the main building. I sighed, rather charmed by the old man’s efforts to protect me.

“Come on,” I pulled Pietro back towards the couch and went to pull out a movie, “It’s about time you watched Titanic anyway.”

We were about halfway through the movie when Pietro asked me, “What did you want to be?”

I looked up at him from my position in his arms in confusion.

“When you were younger,” he clarified, “what did you want to be?”

I rested my head back on his shoulder, looking into his crystal blue eyes with a smile. “I was going to be a great actress,” I replied, “I still might be. People do tell me I’m good.”

He smiled back at me.

“I will have to see you sometime,” he leaned down locking our lips together. I pulled away gently, looking back up at him.

“What about you? What did you want to be?” I was hesitant to ask, he never did like talking about his turbulent childhood, but, much to my relief, he sighed and responded:

“When I was very young, I did want to play football—or soccer in America.” He looked back towards the screen as Rose stood “flying” on the bow of the unsinkable ship before continuing. “My father used to take me out to the courtyard behind our house and kick the ball back to me. And then Wanda would come to play and I would tell her that it was just for boys and she would kick me in the shins and play anyway, usually winning.” We both laughed at that.

“Serves you right.” I chuckled as I pushed my lips against his again and turned back to watch the movie in his arms.

Two grilled cheese sandwiches and a sinking ship later, tears were rolling down my face as Jack faded into the water. Pietro noticed my sniffles and angled his face away to look down at me. He let out a pitiful chuckle as he brushed the tears off my cheeks with the pad of his thumb. “Why do you watch this movie if it makes you so sad?”

“Because,” I murmured between sniffles, “it makes me happy too. It just makes me feel things and that’s beautiful. Even if it is a somewhat crappy movie.” He laughed at me again.

“You are a funny girl Printessa,” he nuzzled his nose into my hair.

“We’ll have to watch that next…” I mumbled.

He laughed against my head.

“You are a funny girl… My funny girl.”


	13. The Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One part fancy party, One part SHAMELESS smut

The rest of that week was sent back in my own universe with my family, packing up the summer house and heading back into New York to start school. There were nightmares almost every night and for the first time since I was a kid, I found myself creeping into my parents room for comfort. My mom was so good about it. Every night I told her what had happened in my dream and she would get me a a cup of tomato soup and snuggle next to me on the couch with a fluffy blanket watching Friends. She never asked about it, she never judged, she was just there. She was especially excited to hear about the fancy party Stark was throwing though, and as I finished packing my bag Friday afternoon, she was far from afraid to send me off with a few unwelcome reminders.

“You _have_ to take pictures of _everything_ for me ok?”

“Yes, Mom.”

“And you’re all ready for school on Tuesday?”

“It’s only a retreat Mom,” I chuckled, “Classes don’t start ’til Monday.”

She raised her eyebrows at me.

“Yes, Mom, I _am_ all packed.”

She smiled, “Have fun tonight. With Pietro.” She smirked at me, “Just be careful.”

I blushed under her gaze, “I will be Mom. See you Sunday night, ok?”

“Alright. Don’t forget the pictures!”

I laughed as I stepped through the portal. My room was suddenly the glass walled center of the Avengers Tower. I stepped into the room as the portal behind me closed, leaving blank white in the metal ring that was mounted on the wall.

“Ah! She has arrived!” Thor’s voice echoed through the halls, but before I could see where he was I felt his arms wrap around my back and lift me off the floor. I yelped and giggled as he threw me over his shoulder fireman style. “I have missed you!”

I laughed again as he started to carry me in to the living room, or at least I assumed that’s where we were going since I was currently backwards, “I’ve missed you too! I didn’t know Tony was going to call you in from Asgard.”

“I would not miss these revels for the world! Tony is my friend, I have come to support him in his pledge of marriage.”

He turned a corner. “She has arrived!” he repeated.

We must’ve found the team then. I heard a chorus of “Hey”’s from behind me and I lifted my hand to wave blindly at them. Thor finally set me down on the couch wedged between Pietro and Clint.

“Clint! I haven’t seen you all summer!” I leaned over and hugged him as well as I could in our awkward position.

He chuckled in my ear. “It’s good to see you too Sparks,” he pulled away from me. “But you better hug your boyfriend before he tears my head off.” I turned to face Pietro’s amused glare as I pulled him into my arms, letting my lips brush over the crook of his neck subtly.

“First Thor, then the old man, and _then_ me?” he teased in my ear. “Are you leaving me for the bird man?” He teased, with the barest hint of a warning flashing under his eyes. I rolled my eyes at him.

“Yes, I’ve stopped loving you because I didn’t get to hug you first,” the sarcasm poured out of my mouth before I switched tactics and narrowed my eyes playfully. “What are you going to do about it?” He almost growled as he leaned towards me against was stopped by his sister.

“Ew! No, Pietro! Gross! Do that on your own time!” she shrieked, shielding her eyes. Her twin only smiled wider and planted a chaste peck on my lips.

“Really Wanda, you assume the worst in me,” his eyes were devious.

“You do not often prove me wrong brother,” she accused, making him shrug lightheartedly. “Besides, you cannot do that with her now. We need to go shopping.”

“Oooh, where are we going?” I sat up, excited.

“Saks,” Nat replied with a grin. “With Tony’s credit cards.”

The smile that spread across my cheeks was nearly painful. I squealed and clapped my hands in glee.

“When are we leaving?” I asked.

“As soon as we show you your room,” Wanda answered, already standing to lead me away. I jumped up to follow her and Nat took up the rear.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After an afternoon of shopping and an evening watching movies with Pietro, I woke up in my new room, the sun streaming through my window. I stretched under the silken sheets, the fabric caressing my skin pleasantly. I sat up on my bed, letting my feet touch the cool floor, before realizing what was on my nightstand. I reached over to find a beautiful flower and a handwritten note.

“Printessa,” I read aloud, “A flower from the Canary Islands, because it is the only thing that is almost as rare and beautiful as you. I will see you tonight.” My heart melted as I picked up the flower. It was red and utterly beautiful. I lifted it to my face, inhaling its scent and was overtaken by its sweetness. I ran to the bathroom to grab a glass and fill it with water, slipping my flower into it and putting my makeshift vase on the windowsill next to my bed. I admired it for another minute, giddy with love for my boyfriend, who ran across the ocean in the night to find me a rare flower from the Canary Islands. My heart swam.

I tried to compose myself as I jumped in the shower, shaving every inch of myself in anticipation of tonight, and changing into a pair of shorts and a Doctor Who T shirt when I heard a knock at the door.

“Just a sec!” I called in a singsongy voice, pulling my shirt over my breasts and walking over to the door. Flinging it open, I found Nat and Wanda who invaded my room without a thought. “Good morning!” They both turned to me, suspicious expressions etched on their faces.

“You’re awfully chipper for eleven o’clock in the morning,” Wanda examined with a raised brow.

“Oh it’s nothing,” my voice rang out. “Just my boyfriend being amazing.”

“Oh?” Nat challenged with a smirk. I showed the two of them the note and the flower and watched in happiness as the mindreader and master assassin chorused “Aw”’s over Pietro’s romantic side. I was still giddy from it and I couldn’t seem to wipe the smile off my face.

“Oh that boy is working hard for you,” Nat professed, “We’ve gotta get you ready for him tonight.”

“Nat, the engagement party isn't for another nine hours,” I reasoned.

“But we have a spa appointment in one.” she reprimanded. “Nails, hair. The works, then we come back here for makeup and dress up.” I looked over at Wanda who shrugged, just as powerless as I was when Nat set her mind to something.

Across the street was a salon that according to Nat was “the best in New York”, and I wasn’t exactly sure how she would be an authority on that sort of thing given her line of work, but I was surprisingly willing to take her word as gospel as we crossed the busy street. Nat breezed through the lapse in traffic easily, but I had to guide Wanda through the on coming cars as one might lead a blind, terrified, three legged cat, but eventually we all j-walked across the street and made our way into the salon.

It was a religious experience. They started with deep tissue massages, followed by a full body moisturizing experience that left us all as soft as a baby’s butt. Afterwards, they guided us to a small sitting room where they served us a light lunch of dumplings and tea sandwiches, which was strange but delicious. Next they sat us down in vibrating chairs for stimulating foot massages and pedicures which were quickly followed by manicures. And finally they sat us all down in front of salon mirrors, washed our hair, and styled it as per our request. Wanda kept her hair down, asking them to curl it lightly and pull half of it up. Nat went with the messy bun look, her red curls refusing to be subdued. I asked for a simple clean french twist with a deep side part.

By the time we left, it was five o’clock and we were looking pretty gorgeous. We crossed the street again, this time letting Wanda get dragged by Nat, and laughed our way back to our rooms, grabbing our Saks bags from the other day and converging in the assassin’s room where she had pulled out all of her disguise makeup and arranged it neatly in piles on the floor. It felt like a middle school again, all of us sitting cross legged on the floor asking someone to “please pass the eyeliner” to which the other girls reply “which one?” It was beyond fun, but the hours were ticking away.

“Alright ladies!” Nat called as she blended her bronzer, “The boys are expecting us downstairs in fifteen minutes.”

“We can’t go down all at once!” Wanda exclaimed.

“She’s right Nat, we each need to make our own entrance.”

She sighed, “Ok then, Wanda will go down first, then me, then you. Sound good?” she glanced between the two of us as we both nodded our approval. “Good.”

We all put the finishing touches on our faces before digging through our bags to put on our gowns. “Ok! Time’s up! Time for final checks,” she looked over at Wanda, “Ok turn slowly.” Wanda did as she was told. She looked stunning. Her dress fit her perfectly and the gold on her eyelids echoed the tones of her earrings and her softly dark lips added the perfect tone of subtle drama to the look. She finished the turn, looking back to us for encouragement.

“Absolutely perfect.”

“Gorgeous. Amazing.”

She glowed under our compliments, looking at Nat next, “Your turn.” She complied turning in the same slow circle as Wanda had. The black dress and shoes were classic and her red lips and subtle cat eye gave her a wonderfully vintage feel while the avant garde nature of the dress’s neckline brought it back to this century. Finishing her circle we gave her the same look of awe and admiration guaranteeing her beauty without a single word. She smiled as the girls turned to me.

I knew the drill. Turning in a slow circle their eyes raked over me, checking for panty lines, smudged lipstick. I had tried to keep my look pretty natural, adding a slightly darker but still natural shade to my lips and flicking out a thin black line above my upper lashes. I finished my circle and looked back at the girls. Nat approved judging by her thumbs up, but Wanda came towards me.

“Hold on.” She walked me over to the desk where she had plugged in a curling iron to refresh her hair. Very carefully, she pulled a strand of my hair out of place, letting it frame my face, and bringing the still warm iron to my hair, curling it subtly and setting it with spray. “There,” she said, pleased with her work, “Pietro’s never liked his girls too tidy.”

“Well, she certainly won’t be by the end of tonight,” Nat murmured, “Alright Wan, you head down. I’ll meet you in five minutes.” With a nod and a smile, the twin walked out the door and down the hallway, her head held high. After five minutes of complimenting each other, Nat followed her, leaving me to wait my five minutes. I checked myself in the mirror one more time, smoothing hair, blending what little makeup I’d put on, and before I knew it my time was up too.

I closed the door behind me and walked down the hallway, the blue material of my dress swaying with my hips. Nat’s room was interestingly located for entrances into the living room. It was actually a floor above the main room, so the hallway that I was currently walking through would soon flow into the small lofted area above the living space, which meant I would have to descend a flight of stairs in my five inch heels and floor length dress.

I took another breath as I walked out on to the loft, the team’s conversations loudly echoing around me. I could feel gazes falling on me as I walked towards the stairs, conversations stopping short as people turned to watch me step, step, step towards them. I didn’t look down until I reached the top of the stairs, and when I did I saw the entire room transfixed by my appearance, but most importantly I saw _him_. Standing in the center of the room, his face clean shaven, his hair slicked back, wearing a black tux was Pietro, and he was looking at me as one would look at an angel. I smiled down at him, resting my hand on the railing and stepping down, carefully as my dress trailed behind me. Step by step I went down the stairs, everyones eye’s still on me and not a word uttered the whole time. When I reached the bottom, Pietro wove through the crowd to get to me, taking my hand in his and pressing it to his lips.

“Printessa,” he whispered against my skin. “Floarea mea.” As my hand fell from his, I looked up at his eyes and placed my lips firmly on his. The room erupted in applause and suddenly the loud mirth of the team had returned. We both broke away smiling like idiots. “You look so beautiful.”

“And you are outrageously handsome,” I kissed him again, “And I got my flower.” I kissed him harder this time, “And you are amazing.”

He smiled,“I am glad you liked it Printessa. I have something else to give you.”

“I thought you were giving it to me tonight…” I purred in his ear. His eyes lit up in surprise that was swiftly replaced with a mischievous desire.

He shook his head laughing as he pulled a black velvet box from his jacket pocket. My eyes widened as he opened it.

“Oh my God, Pietro…” I couldn’t find the words. Inside the box was a diamond bracelet matching the earrings I wore. “How did you know?”

“I have a kind sister.” Taking the bracelet out of the box and fastening it around my wrist he kissed my hand again. “There, now you are shining as a printessa should.” I smiled again, wrapping my arms around him in a warm embrace.

“Alright everyone,” Steve called out, always the team leader, “We better get downstairs or we’ll be late.” People started shuffling towards the doorway, but he caught me as I passed him, his gentle arm resting on my shoulder for a moment. “You do look beautiful,” he told me, that same bittersweet look in his eyes that I had seen only occasionally over the past months.

I smiled my thanks as I followed the train of the group, letting my eyes stay on his as Pietro’s hand lead me away. We all trickled down the elevators, slipping into the limos waiting for us outside and rode off to the party.

We were guided through the halls of the Met to the Egyptian Temple in the back. It had always been one of my favorite rooms in the museum. In the day time, it was filled with light streaming through the glass wall that looked into Central Park, but tonight only a soft glow from the park’s street lamps came through the glass. Under the gateway of the temple was a decently large band playing some classic jazz, very Pepper’s taste, and scattered around the edges of the room were circular tables, leaving the floor open for dancing. The team was led to one of such tables on the outskirts of the dance floor and we each took our seats. Pietro pulled out my chair before sitting on my right, ever the gentleman, and on my other side sat Wanda who was quickly joined by Vision. Across the table were Natasha and Bruce talking animatedly while the red head tried to ignore Wanda’s and my teasing looks, Steve, Sam, and Rhodey talking about preferred weaponry as well as Clint and Thor, discussing something about traditional family values.

Tony came by with Pepper to welcome us to their party, the metal man never missing an opportunity to pick out Steve’s dateless-ness and how Pietro “doesn’t look like a caveman for once” which made him tense but my reassuring hand on his knee under the table reminded him to relax. He still wasn’t all too fond of Tony, but it would be frowned upon if he were to throw him out the window during his own engagement party. Luckily, Pepper pulled Tony away, insisting that he come greet the other guests and wishing us all well as they left. I could feel Pietro let out a breath of relief and he looked over at me in thanks, but his gaze lingered on mine and shifted to one of admiration.

“What?” I asked with a small smile.

“You are just so beautiful.”

I blushed and looked at my lap before flicking my eyes back up to his mischievously and sliding the hand that was already on his knee just an inch further up his leg and drawing small circles on the inseam of his pants with my index finger. His breath caught as his hand enclosed my wrist and he leaned into me to whisper in my ear.

“Oh, Printessa,” he purred, “You should not have started that game with me.”

His breath was hot on my ear and neck, but our exchange was quickly ended when Natasha declared that we simply “would not be having any of that here, thank you very much,” but it wasn’t like Pietro was going to listen to her, not for long anyway.

The dinner was wonderful, juicy meats (or so I heard from the non-vegetarians at the table) and fresh vegetables with a tasty pasta side. Everyone was content as they began to bring out the dessert, a chocolate mousse cup with strawberries and whipped cream, everyone including Pietro, who was more lively than ever, poking fun at Clint and Steve one minute while asking Bruce about his work the next. He was being funny and sweet and even more perfect than ever, I almost wondered if he was up to anything. I found out when he _accidentally_ knocked my napkin off my lap and leaned over me to pick it up, hiking my skirt up to my upper thighs under the table cloth in the process and scooting closer to me to lay it back over my legs, his polite smile never leaving his face.

“So Bruce, tell me more about how you linked my love’s universe to ours,” he questioned Bruce, our bodies now close enough that our shoulders brushed against each other. Bruce was all too happy to explain to an enraptured table how he had identified the bi-universal signal that had penetrated their universe and traced it to my arrival, and Pietro nodded with the others while moving his left hand onto the exposed skin of my right leg. My throat tightened as I glanced to him, his face still a mask of interest in Bruce’s studies, and I readied myself against his advances, determined to win his little game. I scooped up a bite of my chocolate mousse and sucked on my spoon provocatively, catching the subtle eyes of not only Pietro, but fleeting glances from Steve and Bruce as well. Pietro only smiled wider, his eyes still trained on Bruce as he slid his hand further up my skirt, the tight fabric pushing up at his persuasion. The tips of his fingers dusted over my inner thighs and I stuck another spoonful of chocolate between my lips, letting my tongue flatten over the silver surface. Pietro’s eyes flicked over to my lips before returning to Bruce a little wider as the scientist finished his explanation. As Natasha folded into the conversation, complaining how Bruce really should’ve stayed at the base over the summer, Pietro pushed my skirt up further, pressing his fingers against my underwear—.

“Steve!” I spoke up in a high pitch. The blond turned to look at me with eyebrows raised. “Dance with me?” I asked, quick to find an out away from the table and Pietro’s teasing hands.

I pushed a stunned Pietro’s hand away, subtly pulling down my skirt and standing up to take Steve’s cautiously extended hand.

“I can’t really dance you know…” he stated worriedly as he led me to the dance floor with the other few couples that had already finished their desserts.

“Don’t worry,” I reassured him. “It’s easy.” The band was still playing old standards, so any sort of normal, jumping, fist pumping dancing wasn’t going to fly. I placed one of his hands on my waist and the other in mine. “Just mirror me,” I instructed as we swayed to the beat. He picked up the moves fairly quickly and by the end of the song I was twirling around the floor with him with ease. I occasionally caught Pietro’s eyes as we danced. At first they were amused at my bold move in our little game, but as he watched me in Steve’s arms his eyes darkened with jealousy. The song ended with a flourish and the other guests applauded quietly as the band flipped through their sheet music. A slower song began and Steve moved to grip my waist again, but he was stopped by a tap on his shoulder.

“Mind if I cut in?” Pietro’s demand was cloaked by a polite request. Steve smiled softly in a disappointed understanding, kissing my hand to thank me for the dance before retreating to his seat. Pietro took his place, firmly holding me against him as a twinkle returned to his previously dark gaze.

I returned the twinkle with a smirk, “Looks like I won this round.”

He smiled back at me. “Tonight, yes you did win.” He swayed me around the floor. “And now the game is over and I want to enjoy my night with the most beautiful girl in the room.”

“But Natasha’s over there,” I joked half heartedly as a blush settled over my cheeks. He pulled me closer to him, his eyes darkening again.

“Stop it. You know I hate if when you do that. You are beautiful. You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen,” he pressed my face into his chest, my eyes closing as he led me through the other couples on the floor. “I love you.”

I smiled against him. “I love you too.” Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered played around us, the singer’s smooth voice melting us together. I hummed along to the song, “Wise at last, my eyes at last, are cutting you down to your size at last. Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered no more.”

“Mmh, I love it when you sing,” Pietro mumbled, kissing my hair.

I smiled and continued murmuring against his warm body, “Burned a lot, but learned a lot, and now you are broke so you’ve earned a lot. Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered no more.” We swayed in the center of the floor as the song wound down, the last notes ringing in the air. It felt so good to have his arms around me, to feel secure in his embrace.

The rest of the night flew by. I spent most of my time in Pietro’s arms on the dance floor, but eventually Clint requested a dance, followed by Tony, and even Thor for a moment before his insistence on throwing me around the dance floor proved to be a bit dangerous for everyone involved. But as the night was drawing to a close, I was in Pietro’s arms again, as we waltzed to an instrumental piece that I didn’t know, and I just enjoyed being led around the floor by my date.

“How do you know how to dance like this Piet?” I asked in a dance.

“My father taught me,” he replied, pulling me close again, “He said that if I were to ever find a woman as wonderful as my mother, I would have to dance like a prince, for she was a princess, and any woman I deserved would be a princess as well.”

He had taken my breath away again, I found myself at a loss for words as he twirled me around again. He brought me into his chest again, “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” I pulled back to look at him. “We should go home. It’s getting late.” My eyes were brimming with adoration as I made the suggestion, knowing that I was offering much more than a way out of Tony’s party.

His eyebrows raised and a smile stretched across his face, “Are you sure?”

I nodded and he pulled me off the floor, leading me back to the table with the other Avengers. “We are getting tired, and the party is ending. We were going to head home.” His announcement drew looks of understanding from Wanda and Natasha and oblivious nods from the rest of the team. He turned, gathering me against his waist as he walked me towards the door, leaning me against the frame before kissing me gently and whispering, “I’ll be right back.” He sped off in a blue blur, returning in ten seconds to gather me in his arms bridal style.

“Where did you go?” I asked as he carried me through the halls of priceless art and artifacts.

“I gave our congratulations to Tony and Pepper, and explained that we were leaving,” he turned a corner and sped down a long stair case into the main lobby.

“And you didn’t kill Tony without me there to stop you?” I teased pulling myself up to peck his cheek.

“I knew that I had something better to do,” he shrugged, walking through the revolving doors into the crisp night air.

“And what would that be?”

“You.”

He sped down the steps of the Met, dashing through traffic to Lexington Avenue and taking a sharp right, running around late night businessmen and tired tourists, running the same path I had walked my first night in this universe three months ago. He sped into the tower, only stopping once the two of us were standing in the elevator, zooming towards the Penthouse. I was still breathless as he pulled me into him in a heated kiss, his lips dancing over mine roughly. He whispered sweet nothings into my skin as he drifted over my neck, his hands roaming over my hips and waist.

“I love you, I love you, I love you,” he murmured over and over again as my head spun. The elevator came to a soft stop once it reached the top floor of the tower. I was swept into Pietro’s arms again as he dashed me into his room, setting me down in the middle of the floor before turning back to shut and lock the door.

I was wordless as he turned from the door, looking back at me. He was slow again, his eyes tracing up every inch of my body as he took slow careful steps towards me. The way he was looking at me gave me a sudden surge of confidence. I turned away from him, pulling out his desk chair and sitting facing away from him. I reached up, taking off each earring and putting it on his desk, but I left my bracelet on. I felt his hands on my shoulders and I turned my head, not enough to look at him, but enough for him to see my face.

“Could you help me with my hair?” I asked.

He didn’t answer, but I felt his gentle hands stroking over my hair, finding pins and pulling them out slowly. With each pin I felt an unknown pressure release and I let out small sighs as he worked over me. As he pulled the last pin from my hair it tumbled on to my shoulders and I hummed in relief, his hands threading through my locks.

“Thank you,” I said, standing from his desk without looking at him and walking to the center of the room keeping him behind me, and facing the bed. Turning over my shoulder again, without looking at him I asked shyly, “Unzip me?”

I heard him walk towards me, his hands appearing on my shoulders again before they traced down my back, finding the zipper at the center of my dress. I heard him suck in a deep breath as the zipper slid down inch by inch until it stopped, revealing my back and the top of my lacy blue thong. I took a shaky breath as his hands came up to my shoulders again, sliding the straps of my dress down my arms. The warm silk passed my elbows and the my fingertips as it fell to the ground.

“Printessa,” Pietro commanded, “look at me.”

I turned in the circle of silk around my feet, coming to face Pietro for the first time since we had entered the room. His eyes met mine, lustful and paired with a soft smile, “You are so beautiful.” He brushed a stray hair away from my face and leaned in to kiss me. I kissed him back with fervor, reaching up to grip his jacket and pull it down his arms. Once it was off, he wrapped his limbs around me, gathering me against him, but I pulled my chest away from his, my hands working on the many buttons of his crisp white shirt, and unwrapping his arms from my body to pull that off him as well. Never breaking our kiss, which was getting hungrier by the second, I reached up again to loosen his tie and remove the fabric from his neck. His top was completely bare and I let my hands travel over the ridges of his body, over his pectoral and abdominal muscles before swiftly plunging my hand down his pants to grip his erection through his underwear.

He groaned, and gripped my wrist, pulling my hand away from his crotch. I pulled away from him for a moment, but he just pressed his forehead to mine. “This is for you, Printessa. This night is for you.” He picked me up and leaned me against the wall before trailing kisses down my body. He nipped at my hip bones before gathering the blue lace of my panties between his teeth, his eyes locked with mine, sparkling with lust and mirth as he pulled the fabric down my legs. My hands searched for purchase on the smooth wall behind me only to find nothing. In an instant his mouth was hovering over my core, his hands gripping my thighs, pulling them further apart and flattening his tongue against my clit. I moaned and my back arched against the wall, my hands having no where else to go, gripped his hair as he worked me over. His tongue was flicking and stroking everything it could reach and he nearly sent me over the edge when he thrust two fingers into my entrance, but, after feeling the tension in my walls, he pulled away completely.

I groaned in distress making him chuckle, “Don’t worry,” he got to his feet, “There will be plenty of time for that later.” I brought his mouth to mine hungrily, tasting myself on his lips and humming in pleasure when I felt his hard crotch pressed against me. Suddenly, I flipped us over so he was against the wall as we kissed, and my fingers flew over the fly of his pants. I pushed them down his legs and he toed off his shoes and socks as we kissed. I grabbed his dick over his underwear making him moan, and I smiled as I sunk to my knees.

“Draga mea, you don’t have to,” he reasoned through lidded eyes.

“I know,” I lowered his underwear to join his pants on the ground, “I want to.” I licked him from base to tip before kissing the head and running my tongue just underneath it. He shivered under my touch and I looked up at him seductively, taking as much of him in my mouth as I could and stroking the rest with my hand. I pumped him up and down, swirling my tongue over the vein on the underside of his cock and he began to come apart.

“Printessa,” he squeaked, his voice an octave higher than usual, “Stop, I won’t last.” I came off his dick with a pop and was lifted from my knees by two strong hands under my arms. Those same strong hands unhooked my bra with incredible dexterity, trowing it to the floor before throwing me on the bed. He climbed on top of me, his naked body hovering over mine.

“Are you ready?” he asked, the question laced with lust and love.

“Yes.”

Pietro pressed his lips to mine firmly, pulling away for an instant, “This may hurt, ok?”

I nodded nervously. He kissed me harshly as he reached down to spread my legs and line himself up with my entrance. I felt the head push into me, and he stopped everything for a second, pulling back from me to watch my face. “Ready?” he asked worriedly. I nodded again fighting the discomfort of the large invasion as I prepared myself for more. He took a deep breath as he push himself inside me suddenly. I gasped and tears spilled out of my eyes as he filled me. He was there apologizing profusely as he kissed away my tears and fought the urge to move. My breathing began to return to normal as I got used to the feeling inside me and I curiously wiggled my hips against his, making him moan in pleasure. The burning feeling was ebbing and I could even feel the beginnings of pleasure pick at my core, and I could feel Pietro shaking above me as he put off his thrusts.

“Pietro,” I whimpered, “Move. Please, babe, move.” He pulled out and pushed back in with a sigh of relief. He gripped my breast and kissed me as he pumped into me and a familiar heat began to coil in my stomach. Soon the pain was completely gone and I moaned with him as he pumped into me, thrusting my hips to meet his. He went faster and faster making my head spin and I could feel him losing himself in pleasure.

“Come on, Printessa,” he panted over me, bringing a hand down to circle my clit, still thrusting into me as he used his powers to make his fingers vibrate against me. I was lost in sensation as my back arched off the bed and I came harder than I had ever cum before, screaming his name. He gripped my shoulders as he came inside me, his own orgasm pulsing through me.

We were both shaking in each other’s arms as we came down from our highs. He fell beside me on the bed, his body slick with sweat. Our breaths were labored as we looked into each other’s eyes, and I couldn’t help but smile, giddy off him. I pulled my lips up to his, cupping his face in my hands and kissing him again. I cuddled into his side, shifting my body to let him pull the blanket out from under our bodies and cover us up. His arm circled my waist and pulled me towards him. I laid my head on his chest and swung a leg over his, relaxing into his warm body.

“I love you, Pietro.”

“I love you too, Printessa.”


	14. Jealousy

I woke up to Pietro watching me in the morning light.

“Good morning,” I mumbled through a grin.

He raised his eyebrows and laughed, “Good morning.” He threw me on top of him as he sat up against the headboard so I was straddling his lap.

“Last night was…” I trailed off, blushing and unsure of what to say. I half expected him to save me from saying anything, but he waited for me to finish, a smug, amused look on his face, “Well, I guess thank you. I know I probably wasn’t very good since it was my first time, but you were so good to me and I—.” I was cut off as he twisted, throwing me on the bed as he knelt between my legs, each both my wrists in his hands on either side of my face.

“You think you have to thank me for that?” he laughed, “You think I did that to be good to you?” He leaned down so I could feel his breath against my lips as he spoke. “I wish I were as good as you seem to think I am. That was _far_ more fun for me than it was for you. No thanks are necessary, except maybe my thanks to you, for trusting me.”

I smiled and lifted my lips to brush against his, “I always trust you.” We kissed again, “And I’m sure I can still improve on—ehm—last nights _activities_ , after all, practice does make perfect.” Pietro laughed again as he leaned down to kiss me again.

“My little perfectionist.”

“Your little perfectionist,” I smiled at him, “is hungry.” I squirmed out of his grasp and hopped off the bed. I found my panties from last night and bent over to pull them up, hearing a lusty moan from Pietro on the bed.

“You are such a little tease!” he groaned even though he still had an amused grin on his face.

“ _Your_ little tease,” I replied as I wiggled my ass at him, giggling as I stood up and picked through the pile of formal clothes that had been torn off last night. I picked his shirt out of the mix, throwing it over my shoulders and buttoning its three center buttons. It fell just about to my mid thighs and the sleeves bunched around my wrists, but it would be fine for a quick kitchen run.

“I’ll be right back,” I walked towards the door, “I’m just gonna grab us some bagels.”

“Don’t take too long, or I might come after you,” he teased.

I rolled my eyes and ducked through the door and began creeping through the hallway. Rounding the corner to the kitchen, I found it welcomingly empty. I sighed happily and walked over to the bag of bagels that Tony always had some intern deliver at five in the morning. Plucking out two bagels, I cut them in half and popped them in the four slotted toaster, knowing that Pietro and I liked our bagels warm. Suddenly voices filled the hallway. I winced, silently wishing I had thrown on more than Pietro’s shirt just in case I ran into anyone. Steve and Sam rounded the corner, laughing and talking about some asshole guy they had seen during their run, but they stopped short when they saw me standing at the toaster. Their expressions fell in synced surprise as eyebrows raised, but Sam’s look of amusement differed greatly from Steve’s mask of annoyed disappointment.

“So,” Sam started, “Is that your shirt?”

I bit my lip and looked at the floor as my face turned a very unattractive red.

“Hmm, I think that’s a no Steve. What do you think?” he asked the super soldier as he leaned against the counter to my right.

“Definitely a no,” Steve grumbled, mimicking Sam’s position to my left so the two of the boxed me in.

I sighed in annoyance.

“Who’s shirt could that be then I wonder?” Sam prodded, “It couldn’t be Pietro’s could it?” He gasped mockingly and I rolled my eyes at him. “ No! It couldn’t be!” I was giggling now; Sam did always manage to bring a smile to my face, but Steve didn’t seem to have the same reaction to his antics. He had had enough once he heard Pietro’s name, leaving the counter and storming out of the kitchen in a huff. Sam and I watched him go before he turned to me, “Hey, don’t worry about him. I’m happy for you,” he smiled and gave me a hug, “I’ll talk to him for you, ok?” I nodded and watched as he followed Steve down the hallway.

Once our bagels popped out, I nearly ran back to Pietro’s room, not wanting to run into anyone else on my journey. Closing his door behinds me as dexterously as I could with two bagels in hand, I tip toed over to the bed where Pietro was currently lazing.

“Ah, you are back! I vas beginning to think I would have to go get you,” he cooed from the fluffy white sheets.

I smiled at him weakly, “I wanted to toast the bagels,” I handed him his, “And I ran in to Steve and Sam.” His expression changed as he noticed the sadness in my voice and he lifted a hand to cup my face. “It was fine,” I reassured him, “It’s just that Steve seemed pissed about— _us_.”

He took in a labored breath, clearly contemplating something before shaking his head and fixing me with a worry free gaze. “Ignore him Printessa. He is nothing but a grumpy old man.” I giggled at his gruff imitation of the super soldier and bit into my bagel, careful to keep any and all crumbs off the bed. We ate quickly, making comfortable small talk about the people we had seen last night, and who looked the most ridiculous in their ‘high fashion’ garb.

“Did you see the orange pantsuit? It was like Tropicana threw up on that old woman!” I exclaimed, making him laugh and roll on the bed as we finished our last bites of bagel.

“What about that guy? The one with the bright green suit and purple vest? He looked like a clown!” We laughed some more, both of us collapsing on the sheets as our bodies shook. After a moment, we found ourselves laying next to each other, our faces inches apart. I smiled and glanced down at his lips.

“You know,” I teased, “I have always wanted to try morning sex,” his face lit up, “and practice does make perfect,” he moved to hover on top of me, “plus I’ve got the most amazing teacher to guide me…” My voice trailed off as I pulled him to my lips.

Pietro chuckled as I kissed down his neck, licking and biting as I went. “Is this how you treat your teacher?” he growled playfully and I stopped immediately, the authority in his words going straight to my core. I pulled back to look into his lust clouded eyes.

“And how would you like me to treat you, sir?” I questioned innocently.

His eyes flashed as he came towards me.

“ATTENTION TEAM.” Sam's voice rang over the intercom, “LUNCH IN THE KITCHEN IN FIVE MINUTES. PLEASE BE CLOTHED IN MORE THAN YOUR BOYFRIEND’S SHIRT.”

I rolled my eyes at his last statement, knowing it was aimed at me. Pietro smiled and kissed my nose, a dominant sex demon one second and a total softy the next. He dragged me off the bed and kissed my hands disappearing and reappearing in a split second, this time holding a pair of leggings, one of his old white tee shirts, and my special sexy times red lace lingerie set. I raised an eyebrow at him, but he only giggled like a little kid, pecking me on the cheek and rushing off to throw on a pair of sweatpants and a shirt I hadn’t yet claimed.

I sighed and threw on my clothes, the red of my bra showing faintly through the white shirt, but seeing as though I was still in Pietro’s room and without my entire closet, I just shrugged it off. Pietro threw his arm around my shoulders and I jokingly stumbled under the weight of his muscles making him laugh.

Walking into the kitchen linked together, we found the rest of the team sitting around the round table in the center of the room, all chowing down on various sandwiches from a brown paper bag on the counter. I grabbed a tomato, basil, and mozzarella wrap while Pietro picked out a turkey sandwich, a ham sandwich, and two bags of chips. I eyed him incredulously.

“What?! I burned a lot of calories last night…” he defended a bit too loudly and I turned to see multiple eyes peaking at us from the table including some goofy bedroom eyes from Nat and an awkward grin from Wanda. However it was hard to accept their lighthearted looks when I could see the eyes of Clint and especially Steve boring into the back of Pietro’s head.

I sighed as we took our place at the table, the tension from the men lessening as the meal progressed, but spiking again whenever Pietro would touch me. I could see Clint’s fingers clutching the knife at his place setting while Steve just silently seethed across the table. The conversation flew over their heads, pleasant and funny, but I was still relived when everyone had finished.

“Well guys, I better be getting home,” there was a chorus of groans around the table. “Oh come on, come on! I have to make sure I’m all ready for school soon!” I stood from the table maneuvering around the team’s arms as they grabbed for my wrists to keep me from leaving. “I’ll see you guys Friday, ok?”

“I will walk you out,” Pietro chased you towards the hallway, his hasty retreat from the table catching Steve’s eye.

“I’ll go too.” The super soldier stood and stalked over to us as everyone’s eyes followed him and Pietro stiffened in the doorframe, wrapping a possessive arm around my waist. The two men walked me through the penthouse in silence, stopping once we reached the portal.

“Bye guys, I’ll text you!” I tried to keep the air light as I hugged Steve and he returned the embrace gently, as if he thought I would break if he held me the way he wanted to.

“See you Friday. Be careful.” He kissed the top of my head.

I blushed, “I will Steve.” I turned away from him, facing a rather displeased Pietro, although his glare was not fixed on me as I walked towards him. “Bye Piet.” I put my hands on his shoulders and leaned in to peck his cheek, but he surprised me by turning his head at the last second, pulling me into a passionate kiss and wrapping his hands a little too low on my body for polite company.

“Goodbye Printessa,” he whispered against my lips, letting his hand linger on my back until I stepped through the portal, my head still spinning from his last kiss.

I didn’t even notice the men rushing at each other the moment my back was turned.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“ _He did what_?” I screamed into the phone. I was pacing back in forth in my room.

“I know!” Natasha seemed less scandalized than giddy as she squealed on the other side of the line. “One minute, the three of you were heading out of the room, then we all heard yelling, and then crashing and windows breaking—.”

“ _Windows breaking?_ ”

“Only one!”

“Nat, give me the phone.” I heard Wanda’s muffled demand from the other end before a rustling of Nat obeying the witch. “Steve thought that Pietro was not good enough for you, and he knew that you two were _doing things_ so he started yelling about how he was ‘using you’ and how you ‘weren’t just some girl for him to play with’ and when Pietro started telling him to back off Steve kinda threw him through the window.” She heard my choked noise as I fell on my bed, “Not the window outside! Just the window into the lab!”

I could breath again, but just barely. “Just, just hold on. I’ve gotta come over.”

“But didn’t you start school yesterday? Don’t you have homework?” Nat questioned.

“I’ll handle that later. Meet me at the portal?”

“On it.” Nat replied before hanging up.

I jumped out of bed and hollered out my doorway “Mom? I’m going to the Tower for,” I looked at my watch, “two hours, ok?”

“Alright, hurry back.” I nodded to myself and shut my door, opening the portal and stepping through.

Nat and Wanda were waiting for me on the other side, but before either of them could utter a single word, I cut them off.

“Where. Is. He.” They were stunned into silence, exchanging a look of shock before leading me down the hall to Pietro’s room. They stopped once they got to the door, stepping out of the way knowing that I was clearly on a war path and anything in my way would be _desecrated_. I slammed open the door, finding a very broken looking Pietro lounging in bed.

“Printessa?” he grumbled. His eye was black and swollen shut, and there were cuts scattered up his arms and neck. I was crestfallen at the side of him, but my worry was quickly replaced by rage.

“I leave you alone for two seconds and you two can’t keep your _fucking_ _hands_ _to_ _yourselves_?” I yelled at him, watching him sink back into his covers. “And not only that, but you decide _not_ to tell me about this fight and I have to find out _two days_ later _from your sister and my best friend_?”

“I’m sorry, Printessa.” He moved to get up, but I rushed over to him, pushing him back down on the bed, worry back in my eyes. “I didn’t want to worry you. And I know you are friends with the captain, so I did not want you to know that we had… had a disagreement.”

“And you think I wouldn’t have noticed your eye? Or your arms? Believe it or not, I like those parts of you and tend to check on them regularly.” I chided him, but a sad smile was creeping on to my face, and he could tell from a mile away.

“I heal fast, remember. I thought it would not be a problem.” He winced as he lifted his arm to brush a hair out of my face.

“You’re an idiot,” I shook my head at him, “but I love you.” I leaned down to kiss him gingerly, pulling back once he tried to heat things up. “Uh, uh, uh. None of that for you. Rest and heal. I’ll kiss you again on Friday when you’re pretty.” He laughed at me as I walked out, turning out the lights as I went. “Good night, babe,” I closed the door on my way out, and turned to Nat and Wanda who had been waiting for me by the door. My previously warm smile vanished from my face as I faced them.

“Now take me to the other one.”

We found Steve in the training room, no surprise, hitting a punching bag with fury until it flew across the room. The sight only made me angrier, reminding me that those same fists had hit my boyfriend. Those hands had thrown him through a window. I stalked towards him, my bare feet patting across the smooth floor.

He turned to me, worry creasing his face and a split lip healing, but my name had barely left his lips before I had slapped him across his face. It didn’t phase him, but he turned his head out of deference to me.

“Why the _fuck_ did you think it would be ok to do that?” I spit at him. “Why do you think you have to defend me from my own _boyfriend_?” I shoved him back, but his feet stayed planted as if he had been hit with a cotton ball.

“I was just doing what I thought was best,” he explained through stern, but pained eyes, “I don’t like him with you. He doesn’t deserve you.”

“After all this time, with you egging us on with the rest of the team? How the hell do you know what I deserve?” I yelled, trying to push him again and failing miserably. I huffed in frustration.

“I thought it would’ve ended by now,” Steve snapped. “I thought you would’ve been smart enough to stop trusting him. You see the way he treats people, don’t you? You see that way he tries to hide that side of himself from you?”

“Just back off!” I yelled, not wanting to think about his words as I stormed out of the room. Tears were stinging in my eyes. I kept walking until I reached the portal at which point I turned back to Nat and Wanda.

“Thank you guys for telling me, and for everything.” I sighed, fighting back tears and the two girls pulled me into a hug.

“It’s what we’re here for hun,” Nat reassured me. “Now go home. We’ll watch the boys for you.” I nodded sadly and stepped back into the portal again, collapsing into bed and falling into a deep sleep.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the time Friday finally did roll around, I was deep in a paper with a midnight due date. I groaned as I looked at the required page count and mentally stepped myself for not starting on the work earlier.

I shot off a quick text to Pietro telling him that I’d have to wait to see him tomorrow, and then another message to the group chat, telling them how much I hated my history teacher.

My phone buzzed on my desk, and I groaned as Tony informed me that I’d be missing one of his famous parties and asked if I didn’t just want to bribe the teacher instead. I flipped the phone over, letting the small buzzes of “We’ll miss you!” and “See you in the morning” accent the clicking of my keyboard as I sped through the paper.

Six hours and ten pages later, I closed my laptop triumphantly, finally letting the electronic whirring quiet and then stop entirely.

I stood from my desk and stretched, finally checking my phone for the time and seeing that I could still stop in to the party if I wanted to. Peaking my head out the bedroom door, I found my younger brother sitting in the living room, my parents having already gone to sleep. I slipped back into my room and decided to just leave my mom a text that she would read in the morning, explaining that I actually would be going over to the Tower for the weekend, and that she should expect me to be back on Sunday as usual.

Slipping out of my school clothes and into a black tee shirt dress, I grabbed a pair a booties and my phone and waited for the portal to fill my mirror as it always did. I stepped through the portal into the loud and bustling Tower. I wasn’t the largest of Tony’s parties, but there were definitely a majority of faces I didn’t know. I searched through the penthouse until I found Sam, Nat, Thor, and Clint sitting on one of the main couches, deep in conversation.

“Hey!” I called and sprang into the empty seat next to Sam.

“Oh look who decided to show up!” Clint teased as Sam threw a welcoming arm over my shoulders. “Did you finish your paper?”

I rolled my eyes at his fatherly tone, “Yes, it’s all done, and with time to spare.”

A wave of cheers went around the group before they quickly dove back into conversation.

“What about robot aliens?” Clint suggested eliciting ohh’s and ahh’s from the group, whist I glanced around the space for my boyfriend only to find him sitting at the bar chatting with a pretty little ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. I felt a pang of jealousy ring through me before I reminded myself that they were only talking and it wasn’t a big deal, even if he never did come back with my drink. Whatever, I mean, I wasn’t about to be his crazy, controlling girlfriend. Let him talk to whoever he wants.

But Steve’s words were ringing in my head.

I turned back to the conversation, trying to pay attention to Thor’s lecture on alien species that had technological control over life forms, but my mind kept drifting back to Pietro. I would glance back at him occasionally to find him chatting up more and more attractive girls from his stool at the bar. They flocked to him like bees to honey and he was being just a little too sweet for my liking. However, my resolve stayed strong, and I kept myself planted in my seat, that is, until Steve approached me.

“You always know where to find me, huh Steve?” I sighed, still pissed at him for hitting Pietro. The rest of my little group turned to see what the large blond had come to say.,

“I know you like him,” he hissed, “But you have to do something.”

“Steve I don’t know what you’r—.”

“Yes you do,” Steve almost shouted, but he managed to keep his voice low and gravely so that only we could hear him. “Look at the dance floor.” I peaked around him to see Pietro grinding on some bleach blonde with a boob job, and from the way Clint and Thor tensed and stood, I wasn’t the only one who was bothered by it.

“Please,” Steve pleaded, clearly pained, “If you don’t do something about him, I’m going to have to throw him out another window. Please just end it, you deserve better.”

“Steve.” I silenced him. “Just sit down. I can handle it.” I stood, walking away from the group and letting Steve begrudgingly perch where I had been. He, Clint, and Thor watched me tensely as I walked to the dance floor, strutting confidently towards Pietro and his new friend.

“Of course it’d be that one,” I mumbled to myself, my self worth plummeting with every step, “And she’s gorgeous, and tall, and blonde.” I let jealousy fuel my every step getting angrier and angrier as the distance between us decreased, until it was finally closed.

I reached up to tap Pietro’s shoulder making him turn to face me, his eyes going wide as he stopped grinding on the blonde. She however was entirely displeased that I had stopped their steamy dance, probably assuming I was just another girl trying to steal him away from her. Oh, the irony.

“Excuse me?” she said, very irritated but still trying to be polite.

“Oh you’re excused,” I quipped, before catching myself. I closed my eyes for a moment, _this isn’t her fault_ , I thought, _she probably_ _doesn’t know he’s taken_. “Sorry, I just need to borrow him for a moment.”

“Sorry, but we were dancing,” she tried to pull him back against her while he stood stalk still like a deer in my headlights.

“And you can continue dancing if I decide to break up with him in the next ten minutes,” her eyes grew wide.

“I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t—.” She started to stutter, but I waved her off casually.

“It’s alright, it’s not your fault, it’s his. But for right now, if you’ll excuse us.” I gripped his arm hard, dragging him off the dance floor the both of them speechless and flabbergasted. I pulled him into a hallway off the main party room, rounding a corner to get away from all the noise.

“I—.”

“No. No, you don’t get to talk first. Do you know why I came up to you?”

He was afraid to speak, not that I was surprised. I was absolutely livid with him.

“Steve was threatening to throw you out another window, and this time Clint and Thor were going to help him.” He looked pained and ashamed, _as he should_ , I thought. “I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt all night long. I watched you flirt with every girl in the room, but I refused to be the ‘jealous girlfriend’. I mean, who could blame that pretty little blonde for not thinking you had a girlfriend!”

“You are much prettier than she is!” he spat, eager to get a kind word in.

I glared at him, even more pissed at his meager attempt at flattery. I walked towards him, pushing him against the wall and putting my hands on his chest. I looked deep into his wide eyes.

“I don’t ever want you to do that again,” I growled at him. “Ever.”

He nodded, taking my hand to his lips and kissing it gently.

I melted. “Go apologize that that girl. It wasn’t fair of you to lead her on.”

He dropped my hand from his face and leaned forward to give me a chaise kiss on the cheek before disappearing off in a streak of blue.

I sighed, alone in the hallway, my conversation with Steve still sounding between my ears. And the worry building in my heart.


	15. Unwelcome Return

I dragged myself through the portal the next Friday night near tears and tired out of my mind. I shuffled my way through the sun soaked lofted area and upstairs to Pietro’s room. Opening the door, I found the room dark and empty, _he’s probably out,_ I thought, _along with everyone else_. I flopped on to his unmade bed, fumbling in my pocket until I could pull out my phone.

“Where. Is. Everyone. Question mark. Send,” I mumbled as I typed. I groaned and snuggled his fluffy comforter as I drifted into a light sleep. I tossed and turned on the soft bed, tears leaking out of my eyes. It had been a rough day. No one had listened to me all day and my old crush, who was still a good friend of mine, was seemingly ignoring me. I felt like shit as my eyes drifted closed, hoping to find some peace in unconsciousness.

My eyes hadn’t shut for more than a minute when the eerily familiar glow of the purple light on the back of my eyelids. I sat up with a start, breathing heavily. I shook my head, trying to clear the light from my mind, before laying back down on the bed. This time I hardly closed my eyes before the light returned, this time accompanied with a searing pain. I jumped out of the bed this time, hugging my chest as I whimpered in fear.

Pietro zoomed into the room, “Printessa, are you alright? I’m so sorry I didn’t get your text until now and then I couldn’t find you. Tell me what’s wrong.” His eyes were worried and pleading and he was running him hands up and down my arms in an attempt to sooth me, but the unintentional worried vibrating of his palms did the exact opposite.

“I’m fine,” I grumbled as I ripped myself out of his arms. I crossed over to the far side of his bed and sat, gazing at the sparkling buildings of my city as they began to light up before the sun set. I could hear his hesitant steps behind me; I hardly ever snapped at him and when I did, he knew I always had reason to.

He followed me to where I sat and knelt in front of me. He took my folded hands on my lap in his and lowered his lips to brush against them, delicately, as soft as a butterflies wings. He then raised his hands to cup my cheek before letting them trail over my shoulders, my arms, and my stomach until they rested on my knees. He spread them apart and ran his fingertips up the inseam of my jeans. They brushed against my center before they continued up to my crossed arms, taking a wrist in each hand and unfolding me. I sighed as his strong hands found my waist and lifted me to throw my further across the bed.

“You are stressed,” he mumbled as he pressed his lips against my neck, “Let me help you, draga mea.” I sighed again, my fear and anxiousness fading under his lips. He sucked on a sweet spot under my jaw, making my body squirm beneath him. He smiled against my skin, “I knew you liked that spot.” He reached up and kissed me, sensuously, slowly, like he wanted to taste every bit of my lips.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus and what he was doing, but the blackness of my eyelids was marked by a flicker of purple light. _No_ , I though in a mental whimper. I couldn’t open my eyes, I couldn’t move. The light grew beneath my eye lids and flicks of pain began to flare in my head.

“Pietro,” I whined. He smiled against me, thinking I spoke his name in pleasure. “Pietro please.” I was begging now, tears streaming down my eyes, every word I spoke felt like another marathon run. He must’ve glanced up at my face at this point because all his touches ceased.

“What’s wrong? Are you ok?” his voice was laced with worry and fear. I mustered what strength I could to shake my head. “Is it the light again?” This time his tone was darker, his voice lower. I nodded, my body starting to shake from the throbbing pain that ran through my head to the rest of my body. He sighed. “It is ok, I’ve got you.” He gathered me in his arms in super speed before running down several flights of stairs, bringing me to one of the training and containment floors. Not that I knew that at the time given that my eyes were still frozen shut. He set me down on a cool, hard surface, kissing my forehead and speeding off with a whoosh. A second later he came running back with someone else. No, no two others.

“He said this would happen,” I heard Wanda say before her brother hushed her.

“How long has she been like this?” That was Bruce, no question.

“Only a minute or so,” Pietro sounded anxious and annoyed. “Please can you just help her already!” He was screaming at them now, obviously upset.

I hear the light steps of Wanda coming towards me, and her warm fingertips brushed against my temples. I felt her raking through my brain as she worked the light away from my sight. The pain was slowly fading as the light diminished from my eyes. I could breath normally again and my eyes opened, I looked around to find myself in a medical containment room, and my brows furrowed in confusion.

“Why are we here? Why couldn’t we just go to the medical lab? That’s where all the medical equipment is?” I asked, looking at the three of them before my gaze landed on Pietro.

He shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot, “Well, everyone was down here already, and I wanted to help you quickly…”

‘Why was everyone down here?” I asked, getting more confused by the second, “Hang on, where _is_ everyone else?” Pietro looked at Bruce, his awkwardness replaced by anger as he glared at the scientist. Bruce sighed, pulling out the regulation chair at the desk and sitting in front of me.

“The man that you met at the base, Erik Collier?”

I nodded my understanding.

“Well Vision had been looking for him, and he found him last night.” I felt my heart stop at his declaration, but he only continued, “We brought him to the Tower for questioning, we needed to know more about his experiments, about you.” His brown eyes regarded me with care, with pity. I felt sick.

“He’s here now?” my voice shook as I asked.

“Just down the hall.” Wanda replied. I shifted my gaze to you.

“Before, you said that he had told you that I would see the light again.” She nodded. I took in a deep breath, “I want to see him.” Pietro’s head shot up, his eyes wide in an expression of shook that quickly morphed into one of fury.

“Are you insane?” he hissed. “I am not letting you near him. I didn’t even want him in the same building as you.” He walked towards me, taking my face in his hands. “Please, I have to protect you.” The anger in his eyes was joined by a desperate fear as he begged me to stay. I leaned in to kiss him, my lips staying chaste as he searched mine hungrily. I pulled away from him gently, prying his hands off my face before looking at Bruce.

“Take me to him.”

———————————————————————————————————————

Pietro was fuming behind me, muttering in Sokovian to Wanda who was walking beside him. Bruce led us down the pristine white corridor, turning the corner and opening a door into one of those observation rooms you see on all the cop shows. The whole team was there, turning to me in silent surprise when I entered. My eyes scanned over them, coming to focus on the men behind the one way mirror. I walked towards it to get a closer look, everyone parting to clear my way.

Steve sat at one end of a metal table, facing Erik Collier who was handcuffed behind his back, and looked about as dangerous as a cornered snake, but he held none of its panic.

“What did you do to her?” Steve’s voice vibrated from the bugged room into the observation deck where we all stood. He stared blankly back at the captain, obviously bored.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” he faked innocence as he shook his head at Steve. My fingertips grew cold at the sound of his voice. “Why do you care so much, Captain?” he hissed.

Steve’s faced hardened, “Where did you take her before you left her on the streets?”

“Oh we didn’t take her anywhere. We already had her. We just pulled her out of her universe and there she was.” His eyes glistened as he taunted Steve, “laying there, beautiful, innocent, confused on our lab table. God, was she a sight.”

Steve’s face remained hard as his eyes spat fire across the table.

“Tell me Captain,” he purred, “Did you fall in love with her when you first saw her or did it take a day or two before you realized you wanted more than a good hard fu—.”

The rest of his sentence was muted by Pietro’s fist as he sped from my side into the interrogation room. Steve pulled him off of the scientist, dragging him from the room as he cursed in Sokovian, the darker blond never losing his interrogation calm as the thick metal door swung shut and locked in place as they left the snake-like man to his thoughts.

The two of them emerged into the viewing room a second later, Steve holding Pietro by his shoulder before throwing him forward. “I know this is hard,” he reprimanded, “but we have to let him talk if we want to get the information we need.”

“He shouldn’t be anywhere near her!” Pietro screamed, gesturing to me as I pressed my forehead against the thick glass wall.

“I agree. This guy is bad news, and we don’t really know what he’s capable of,” Sam interjected before moving closer to Steve to speak in hushed tones. “Don’t you remember her after she was with him, it was like he had turned her to _mush_.”

“But we need to have him here,” Nat spoke up. “His information could be critical if something were to happen to her. And we don’t know who he’s with. We can’t risk moving him until we know that no one will come for him.”

“ _What could happen to her_?!” Pietro was livid, screaming now and sending the rest of the team into a squabble, yelling about whether the mad scientist should stay or not, but I couldn’t care less because I was staring at him through the thick one way mirror.

And he was staring at me.

A hint of a smile played at his face as his green eyes twinkled at me. I moved in a daze, slipping past the arguing avengers and into the hall. I grabbed the door to the interrogation room, pressing my hand to the panel to gain access and pushing it open. It closed behind me with a noticeable click and I hurried to swing a stray metal chair from the corner of the room underneath the doorknob to prevent anyone from following me.

I could already hear the bangs on the door as I walked to Erik, sitting where Steve had sat and looking him straight in the eyes.

“Hello my little dove,” he cooed, as his eyes ran over me.

I sat silently, addressing him with empty eyes.

"These guys really must care about you, how they’re worrying so much. I can feel the tension between them.” His eyes narrowed, snake-like, “How does it feel? To be tearing a team apart?”

I didn’t answer, my face still a mask of indecision under his hypnosis, but under the table my hands clenched.

He looked me over again, hungrily. “Come closer.”

I obeyed, blindly, standing up to sit on the edge of the table in front of his chair, my legs swinging on either side of his.

“Closer.”

I obeyed again, this time shifting off the table to sit on his lap, straddling him.

“Closer,” he whispered and I moved my face towards his, my arms wrapping around him, our lips ghosting over each other.

I was pulled back by two strong arms as Steve this time delivered a strong punch to Erik’s face. I was limp in Pietro’s embrace as I watched the scientist turn to Steve with a look of smug triumph before I felt an unmistakable and unbearable pain crossing through my head. I screamed and withered in pain on the floor as Pietro tried to soothe me, tears springing to his eyes as he watched me tremble in agony.

“ _What are you doing to her_?” Steve screamed, but Erik only laughed. I couldn’t think about anything but the pain. It was blinding. “Stop it! Stop hurting her! Stop!” Steve screamed at him hitting him again and again, but it wasn’t until Wanda’s nimble fingers touched his temple that his laughing stopped and my pain faded in to a blissfully numb blackness.

———————————————————————————————————————

The first thing I noticed were the cotton sheets that cocooned my body. My brows met over my still closed eyes as I began to squirm, the fabric rubbing against me pleasantly. My eyelids began to crack open, my sight still fuzzy in the dimly lit room. Angling my head slightly to the left, I saw the buildings of lower Manhattan glittering below. The view from medical bay windows. I shifted in the bed, turning to my right just in time to see Steve sitting in the chair beside me.

He stood quickly when he saw me move, and came to kneel next to the head of the bed. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “We shouldn’t have let him near you. I knew this would happen. I should’ve protected you,” his words seemed to catch in his throat. And worry creased his face in a way that seemed so out of character for the fearless Captain. “I thought you were dead.”

I cleared the sleep from my throat and spoke. “It wasn’t your fault. I needed to see him, needed to get some answers.”

His eyes lit up at that.

“You won’t be seeing him again. They’re sending him away to the base upstate.” My eyes widened as he continued, “The jet is being loaded as we speak.”

“But what you said, about answers—“

Steve cut me off, “We’ll have to make do with the answers they can get us.” He sighed, “Besides we need him alive if we want him to talk, and that idiot of yours can’t seem to stop punching him. He hasn’t taken his eyes off him for a second. He’s even monitoring the transfer now.” He smoothed my hair away from my face. “He’ll never take you from us.”

My breath caught in my throat as I processed his words, too drained to form a cohesive response, so I just curled into my self, laying my head back down on the pillow. I took Steve’s hand from where it rested on the bed and squeezed it, content to know I wasn’t alone as I drifted back off to sleep.

“He’ll never take you,” Steve repeated as my eyes fluttered shut. “I promise.”


	16. Distractions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UPDATED with an extra smutty scene because why not

The next weeks passed slowly, working on homework, going on small missions around the states, filling out college applications, spending lazy nights in Pietro’s arms pretending to ignore the creeping tension between the two of us after Erik. I’d grown so used to the air of uneasiness that it had become comforting.

It was the end of a Friday and the beginning of a blissfully anticipated weekend as I passed through the familiar portal and into the Avengers Tower. I picked my way through the halls until I found my room, deciding to take a minute by myself before finding Pietro. I went to the bathroom and took my hair out of the increasingly painful bun that I had put it in that morning. Walking back into my room, running my fingers through my newly released hair, I heard three gentle knocks on the door. I approached it causally, assuming it would be Wanda or Vision, who would’ve known of my presence in the Tower upon my arrival, and was slightly surprised to find Nat standing on the other side of the door.

“Hey!” I exclaimed happily, wrapping my arms around her as she laughed, “I thought your mission was going to be another few days?”

“It was,” she replied. “But I finished it up quick. So here I am,” she drawled.

“Here you are.” I parroted, a tired smile falling across my cheeks. She didn’t miss my fatigue, she never did, and her brows raised in suspicions she never voiced.

“So Wanda and I were thinking,” she leaned against the doorframe as she scanned me. “We should go have a girls night out.” Her eyes gleamed wickedly, “There’s a great new bar uptown. Dancing, drinks, boys. It’ll be great.” She smiled at me, “Besides,” she tucked a stray hair behind my ear, “You’ve seemed a little out of it lately. You need a pick me up.”

I sighed, knowing that once she set her mind on something, nothing could be done to change it. “What time are you thinking about leav—.” I couldn’t get another word out before she had grabbed my wrist and begun dragging me down the hall to her room, between Pietro’s and Clint’s. “Come on Nat! I at least have to say hi to Pietro first!” I reasoned, pulling towards his door as we passed.

“He’s out with Clint, replacing some booze he ‘borrowed’ last party,” she reassured me as she continued pulling my arm until we crossed the threshold of her room where Wanda already sat.

“Did she say yes?” the Sokovian asked, three tubes of lipstick falling to the ground in a red haze once she let go of her focus on their levitation. A nod from Natasha was all she needed to jump up and engulf me in her long wiry arms, squealing as she did.

“Come on, we should get ready.” The Black Widow was already digging through her closet pulling various slinky dresses from their hangers.

“We can’t be leaving now?” I giggled. “It’s only, what, 5? 5:30?” Nat only rolled her eyes at me.

“We’re having a girls night, that means nails, hair, makeup, then dinner, then bar, then after party. God, it’s like you’ve never done this before.” I tried to smack her shoulder at her playful jab at my lack of social life, but her master assassin skills came into play and she dodged my blow easily. Instead I brushed my hand against her wrist, charging her with electrons so that when she turned back to pull more dresses, the nearest hanger shocked her. She glared at me.

I shrugged, “You should stop wearing socks on the carpet floors Nat, static electricity can be a bitch.” She and Wanda saw right through my bull shit and they rolled their eyes at me.

She threw me one of her slinky black dresses, the strapless one that came to the knee with an offensive slit up the left leg. I raised my brows at her, but she only shrugged, “You’ll have to wear some more modest underwear, but that’s the kind of dress you should be wearing to have fun. Trust me,” she grinned, “I would know.”

I dug through her drawers until I found a black lace strapless bra and a matching pair of boy short panties.

In the next hours, the three of us had dressed, dolled up, eaten a light dinner consisting mostly of various alcoholic concoctions, and now we were entering the new club that Nat had promised us. We, of course, didn’t have to wait in line, the bouncer sending us into the blue lit room as soon as he saw Nat’s cleavage. The dance floor was filled with sweaty, writhing bodies as the crowd pulsed to the beat of the pumping music. We had hardly made it to the bar before men were coming up to us asking to dance, but we turned them down, opting to spend a second drinking before throwing ourselves into the fray.

It wasn’t long before we gave into temptation and let three absolutely gorgeous men lead us on to the dance floor. Mine was amazing, “Christopher,” as he introduced himself, tall with wavy black hair and rippling muscles. He remained respectful, keeping his distance for the first song, watching me as I danced to the music, swaying my hips and enjoying myself. But when the music changed, he started dancing closer an closer to me, his hands finding my hips and wandering dangerously down and back.

“Oh, no. Chris I—.” I was about to clarify our position to him when I was roughly ripped from his hands by two strong arms. Spinning, I found myself face to face with a seething Pietro. He threw an angry glance to Chris, who was standing on the dance floor dumbfounded and grumpy, before he swept me up in his arms and whisked me away.

When the world stopped spinning, we were in Pietro’s room, and I was pressed against his wall harshly. “Piero, look, let me—.”

“Not a fucking word,” he growled. His lips attacked mine, one hand holding both of mine above my head, the other pressing my ribcage into the wall. He bit my lip and I gasped. He took the opportunity to let his tongue invade my mouth, searching out every crack and crevice. I moaned as his tongue started fucking my mouth and he replied by thrusting one of his knees between my legs and wrapping his arm around my waist to pull me down on him.

“Mmmhhh,” I whimpered into his mouth as he ground me down on his knee, and his mouth was suddenly off of mine.

“I saw you. Dancing with that guy. Letting him touch you.” He was growling in earnest now and he swooped down to bite at my neck before speaking again. “Only _I_ am allowed to touch you. Only _I_ can make you feel like this.” I nodded vigorously and the knee he had rested me on moved up so that my feet no longer touched the ground, the pressure between my legs making me weak. He took my hands from above my head and move them down to his crotch, “Do you feel that?” he whispered, running my fingers over his erection through his jeans, “I’m going to fuck you into the mattress until you’re begging me to cum, and then you’ll know, then you’ll know that you belong to _me_.” He made quick work on my dress, bra and underwear, using his speed to remove them with surgical precision so that I didn’t even register my nakedness until he pressed me into the wall with his own bare body. He turned me towards the wall, threading his arm between it and my hips so I arched my back towards him. He rand the head of his cock along my lips, teasing it on the edge of my hole. He angled himself perfectly and hit home in one stroke. I moaned as he started a punishing pace, each forward thrust pushing me further into the wall.

“Do you like that? Do you like having my dick inside you?”

Grabbing my waist, he pulled out and threw me on the bed. I brought a hand up to stroke from his collarbone down his stomach, but he caught my wrist before my fingers reached their destination. Angry eyes reprimanded me as he took ahold of my other wrist and bound them to the head board above my head with one of his more durable ties.

“You don’t get to touch tonight. Tonight I am in control.” With out another warning he thrust into me completely, the both of us moaning at the sensation. He gave me no time to adjust as he started hammering into me again. He spread my legs as far as they could go, giving him uninhibited access to my center. “Fuck baby, I’m gonna cum. Gonna fill you up,” he moaned and he moved his fingers to vibrate against my clit as he leaned down to take one nipple in his mouth.

I came hard around him, pulsing around his cock, but he pulled out before he could finish, his fully erect cock slapping his stomach as he watched my ride out my orgasm.

“I hope you’re not tired,” he growled as my eyelids fought to stay open, “because we haven’t even started yet.”

It was a long night.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I woke the next morning, my body sore from the alcohol, dancing, and other _activities_ that it had carried me through last night. I was naked under the sheets with Pietro’s body curled against mine. I shifted in my place, the cathartic afterglow of last night still washed over me, as I flipped over to press a chaste kiss to the center of my lover’s chest.

“Good morning,” I purred, snuggling into him. He only grunted and pulled me closer to his chest, as if my touch could erase the sunlight streaming through the windows. “Mmmh, hun, I’ve gotta get up. Steve is calling me in for Saturday training today remember?” I squirmed out of his hold and stood in the bright light of the new day, stretching my naked body in its warmth. The Saturday training had been hard so far, and Steve didn’t show any signs of letting up soon. They were only an idea before we found Erik, but once an immediate threat was realized, it was decided that I needed to have better control of my abilities, and fast.

I heard Pietro hum behind me as I bent over to pick out some fresh panties, now that I had taken to keeping a stash of clothes in his room, and I wiggled at him teasingly. I pulled on a sports bra, leggings, and a loose fitting teeshirt before turning to head out the door. Hands on my hips stopped me after two steps.

“Why don’t you tell Steve you’re sick and we can continue what we were doing last night Printessa?” He rubbed circles into my sides with his thumbs and ground his hips against my ass. I placed my hands over his to move them away, but I was startled when he gasped at my touch and flinched away from me. I turned back to face him, concern etched on my face as I took his hands in mine. His knuckles were bruised and split, obviously from punching someone. I was amazed I didn’t notice them last night.

My eyes shot up to his. “You promised.”

He sighed, “Printessa, I had to.”

“You promised you would stop going to talk to Erik! You promised you wouldn’t go near him again! We have to let S.H.I.E.L.D. do their job.”

“I cannot just sit back while that mad man sits alone thinking of you. I don’t even want his thoughts to touch you. I had to help with the interrogation however I could.”

“So you lied to me? You had Wanda and Nat lie to me? How stupid was I, to think that you were out ‘buying booze’ yesterday!” I was yelling now, beyond enraged.

“No! Stop—.” He tried to placate me, taking my hands in his, but the sight of his beaten hands only egged me on.

“Get away from me,” I snapped. “I have to go to training.” I turned tail and left, stomping my way down the hall, knowing he could catch me if he wanted to. Knowing he wouldn’t.

I found Steve waiting for me downstairs, pulling out the larger sparring mats as I walked over to him. His eyes caught me and his jaw tightened as he looked up and down my fuming body.

“Rough night?” he asked, eyeing the hickies the spotted my neck.

“Rough morning,” I grumbled, unwilling to take shit about my relationship from him this early in the day. We both got into our ready positions in either corner of the mat and slowly began to circle each other. He threw the first jab, a small but powerful thrust into my left side, but I ducked and rolled away from it with ease.

“Trouble with Speedy, huh?” he remarked teasingly, although there was a bitter tang to his tone. I threw my foot into the back of his knee, but he only used my lack of balance to throw me over his shoulder and on to the mat below him, pinning me for the first of what I’m sure was going to be many times today.

I tapped out and rolled away. “Who’s been letting him go talk to Erik?” I asked, annoyed. Steve only shrugged.

“He’s an adult, he can do what he wants. The case is open to anyone on the team.”

“Then close it.” I threw a punch at his face, but he only ducked.

“No. Believe it or not, he’s actually gotten some useful information of of our little scientist.” He jabbed at me again, lazily, distracted. “Don’t you want to know what it is?” I swept my leg under his, knocking him off of his feet and on to his back, pinning him to the ground.

“No,” I hissed, “I don’t want to know about a _damn thing_ that man says.” I stood from the super soldier and sulked out of the training center. I had had enough of this weekend. I was ready to go home.

———————————————————————————————————————

School was a bitch. I plopped down on my bed, ready for the relaxing Friday night I had cleared for myself after the full day of lab reports, english essays, and calculous quizzes. I had resolved to go to the tower first thing tomorrow morning, but tonight? No, I needed to spend tonight alone. I would have plenty of time there anyway, given that this was a long weekend and I wouldn’t have to be back in my own universe until Tuesday night. I was just opening my laptop when my phone rang. I groaned.

“Hello?” I faked energy.

“Hey it’s Banner.”

“Hey Doc, what’s up?” I asked rubbing my face.

“Well it’s just that, everyone’s been really low since you left on Saturday, I mean most of us didn’t even get to see you. And Pietro’s been running himself into the dirt. Everyone’s tried talking to him, but he won’t listen. The only way he’s been sleeping is doped up on medication or hypnotized by Wanda. I’m worried about him, and I thought you should know.” I nodded, suddenly much more awake.

“Yeah, yeah Bruce totally. I’m coming over right now.”

“No, no actually I don’t think that’s the best idea.”

“What? Bruce you’re giving me mixed signals. If Pietro’s in trouble, I have to be there for him.”

“That’s the thing. I thought you should know, but I don’t know if you being here would help. See, he’s worried about you. About Erik getting to you.”

“How could Erik get to me? He’s locked up.”

“Not anymore. He’s out. And he’s looking for you.”

I didn’t even have time to reply before I was consumed in purple light and stolen away from my bedroom.

_Not again…_


	17. Captured

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: nothing graphic-- some wandering hands

I came to in a lavishly decorated bedroom with windows overlooking rolling gardens bathed in the red light of sunset. _Oh shit_ , I thought, rubbing my eyes and sitting up off the lacily decorated bed. I stood up and walked towards the windows, only to find that they were bolted shut from the outside and made of a glass far thicker than standard issue. _A pretty prison is a prison nonetheless_. I walked across the room to the wooden door, focusing my energy on the ornate doorknob, planning on charging it so that the next person to touch it would receive an unpleasant shock, but much to my dismay, I found that no matter how much I focused, I couldn’t bring my plan to fruition. My breath quickened. I thought I could be fine, until now, alone in an elegant prison cell, abducted by who? I could only guess it was Erik, but there could be more… And I might have been able to work something out, but now? Powerless? The odds against me were stacked too high for me to see the top.

I turned my back to the door and slid down it until I sat, holding my head in my hands. _Wait. What?_ I looked down at my wrists to find two metal cuffs wrapped around each of them. _They must be obstructing my powers,_ I thought. I immediately searched for a way to remove them, some sort of hinge or something, but the all I found was a thick latch with a intimidating keyhole. And I had no key. I tried pulling them off, willing the bones of my hands to shrink, but I could hardly shove the metal to the base of my wrist before my flesh started to scream in protest.

I stood in frustration and began to pace the small room, already feeling more and more like a caged animal. An intruding knock resounded through the space as the door vibrated. I froze, terrified and annoyed, as I continued to listen to the stranger on the other side of the door.

“Move away from the door. We are armed. We will not hesitate to shoot you,” the voice called out. It wasn’t as deep and comforting as Steve’s, though it had a definite bite to it, and it did share the slightest hint of a Brooklyn accent.

Ever defiant, I moved towards the door, placing myself behind it’s hinges so that I could spring out once they had unlocked it. I heard the tumblers of the lock shifting into place before the door began to open leisurely. With a breath, I stepped in front of it, intending to briefly attack my prison guards and make a run for it, but my plans were foiled when an offensively indelicate force pulled me backwards, my back slamming against the nearest bedpost as my wrists stuck to it.

I narrowed my eyes at the intruders. There were three of them, all holding impressive guns, but only two wearing masks. The third was undeniably their leader, and I recognized him immediately.

“Rumlow,” I hissed. “Nice to meet you. I see you’ve magnetized my bed. How thoughtful.”

He flashed his teeth, the gesture coming off more threatening than friendly, reminding me of a Rottweiler in command of his pack. “We knew you wouldn’t listen to instructions. Had to take precautions.” He crossed in front of me to a large dresser in the corner. Opening the doors wide, he began to rifle through the layers of silky garments that it held. “Dr. Collier is requesting that you join him for dinner,” his words seemed to slither through the air. “He tasked me with making sure you were suitably presentable.” His eyebrows raised when he found a particularly tightly constructed dress, holding it up to my body, and looking me up and down before turning back to the dresser again to continue looking. “He hopes,” Rumlow pulled another gown, “that it will be an enjoyable evening for the both of you.” His smile was sickening as he draped the gown over my bed and came to stand in front of me, our bodies touching disgustingly. “Put it on. Get yourself cleaned up. If you don’t, I’ll have to come in here and _help_ you. And believe me,” he brushed a star hair away from my face as my glare intensified, “that will be far more enjoyable for me than it would be for you.” He turned to leave, his men also clearing the room, but he paused before he closed the door.

“Better yet, don’t put it on.” He looked me over again. “Please.”

My wrists were freed from the post as soon as the door clicked shut, and I rubbed the raw red flesh around the metal restraints. The dress laying across my bed was clearly beautifully made, a deep red silk stitched with military precision, but it was also clearly not made for prcticality, which is probably exactly why the bastard picked it out for me. It had a stringy halter strap and a cowl neck as well as a low back, and the silk was slit up to the upper thigh. To put it bluntly, it was almost guaranteed to show something spilling out. I considered just pulling another dress from the variety in the dresser, but I sure as hell didn’t want to give Rumlow a reason to undress me, so I decided to just make this work for me as well as I could.

I huffed angrily as I slipped off my shirt and jeans, opting to leave my bra on despite the dress’s plunging back, and I slid the smooth silk over my head. If I weren’t so repulsed by my currant situation, I may have been temped to admire myself in the clearly expensive garment, but being as I was currently being forced into this beautiful dress by a mad scientist and his pet pervert, the moment remained un-relished.

The door opened again without warning, and I was flung back to the bed post, this time facing it, with my arms locked in front of me. I heard three sets of footsteps enter the room again, “Well it is too bad that you didn’t take me up on my offer,” Rumlow purred, “Although I can’t say I’m entirely displeased with the outcome.” He ran his hands up my back and I arched away from his touch making him chuckle. “This, however,” he ran his fingers over the revealed back of my bra, “has to go.” I could feel thin strip of cold metal press against my skin as his knife slipped under each of my bra straps, before he unhooked it, and removed it completely, letting his hands linger under my arms, almost touching my chest. I cleared my mind, trying to focus on the situation at present and not the rage that was flooding my mind. Raising my right foot, I brought the thick heel of my shoe down on the commander’s foot. He stumbled away from me with a curse before chuckling darkly. “Thanks for reminding me sweetheart, we’ll have to change those shoes too!”

He must’ve signaled to his men to take care of the task because I could hear them scour the room for a pair as he circled around to face me.

“What kind of person does this?” I spat at him.

He only laughed.

“We’re just getting you ready for him. He’s been thinking about you an awful lot. He specifically picked this place for you. He knows how much you like France.”

My eyes widened, “We’re in France?”

“When you’ve got inter-universal travel at your fingertips and Hydra’s resources, there aren’t many places you can’t go,” he shrugged. “What can I say? He likes to spoil you.”

“Spoil me?” I yelled. His men started working on my feet, holding my ankles hostage as they rid me of my worn school shoes and forced me into a pair of pumps. I took a moment to wonder if this kind of work was listed in their job description, but the thought quickly passed. “Why the hell would he want to spoil me?”

He shook his head, “I’ll let him explain.” His men took ahold of my wrists while he pressed his fingertips into a tablet he had concealed in his pocket, releasing me from the bed post, only to snap my wrists behind me again. “Now walk. He won’t be happy ifyou’re late.”

I begrudgingly let him and his men lead me through a series of ornate hallways until we came to a beautiful stone porch overlooking the gardens I had seen from my room. On it was a small, white cloth clad dining table, outfitted with the works, and Dr. Collier himself, waiting for me in a black suit with a bottle of champagne in hand. He smiled when he saw me and I froze, my breath hitching in sudden fear. _This man is dangerous, this is the man who can completely dismantle you in the blink of an eye, and you are walking towards him._ I felt my breath stick in my throat as suggestive hands on my lower back prodded my towards the man on the porch. I was pressed into my seat as the scientist took his own, his eyes locked on me while the guards left us in the growing darkness, only illuminated by the candles on the table.

I scanned the scene, glancing over the balcony’s edge, looking for a way out. “Please don’t jump,” Erik pleaded, his eyes concerned, “It’s too high, the fall would kill you. And there’ll be time for that later. See, we’re not quite done with you yet.” I snapped my eyes back to him, quivering in my seat. He lowered his eyes in sorrow, “I’m sorry about earlier. I thought it would have been different after the first time I saw you in New York. I thought after you saw the light, you would understand what I was doing.” I leaned away from him in my chair, my chest rapidly rising and falling.

“Why am I thinking?” I asked. “Before, whenever I saw you, I— I couldn’t think, I couldn’t do anything I—.” He cut off my ramble by placing a hand over mine as they rested atop the table, still confined in their cuffs.

“The first time you saw me, you were hypnotized by the light, and it generally has that effect on people from outside this plain of reality.”

“But I’d seen it before. I see it every day. And I would’ve seen it when you first brought me here so—.” I challenged.

He sighed, “Yes, but we wiped your memory of that night so the procedures remained only in your subconscious. And as to those stupid little portals your friends have drawn up for you,” he began pouring the champagne, “they’re not only refined, but also tethered. They remain in their little gates in your little camps. My portals are from the true natural strain, so you have to conjure them and close them.” He smiled at me, “You’re little scientists would never be able to understand.”

“What about after? When I saw you in the interrogation room? There was no light then.” My fear was giving way to anger and curiosity, my desire to know what was happening to me finally winning over my anxiety.

“At that point things had changed. It was always part of the plan to be captured, to be closer to you, but when they moved me away, well, the plan had to change. It became apparent that they were doing it to keep me away from you, so it was unnecessary from me to remain there.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.” I growled.

“You must be hungry.” He changed the subject, waving to a server waiting just inside the door, signaling for them to bring something out.

“That. _Still_. Doesn’t. Answer. My. Question.”

He looked at me, carefully, as if inspecting an artifact for any nicks or scratches before it is bought. He leaned forward, “Do you like it here? I thought you might. I read that you had gone to Paris for your sixteenth birthday in your file before you were selected for the mission. I wanted to make you happy. Can’t you see that? We could do amazing things together, my little dove.” He reached out to place his hand on my cheek, but I flinched away from him, angry and still very confused.

“And what,” my voice skipped a beat. “What is it that we are going to do?”

His eye searched mine before he leaned back in his chair again. He looked down as he spread his napkin across his lap. “When you asked why you reacted the way you did in the interrogation room even though there was no portal present,” he glanced back up at me. “It was because we were controlling you. It was a test. To see how our connection had been growing after you’ve had all this time in our universe.”

I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. _Controlling me?_

“Yes,” he answered to the question I had apparently thought out loud. “It was a part of the experiments we ran in New York. We implanted a microscopic chip in your brain, using the hypnotic technology of the light, that would give us complete control over you whenever we want.”

Tears finally spilled over my lids as breath seemed harder and harder to come by. Worriedly, Erik rushed to my side, kneeling beside me and drying my tears with his napkin. “No, no, dove, please don’t cry,” he murmured to me. “It will all be alright. The mission will be over soon!” He took my face in his hands, “You are my finest creation and you’ve been doing wonderfully. Just look at how they love you! All of them, the whole team adores you. They will be crushed when you fall. The team will be destroyed and the world will finally be safe again, all because if you!”

My eyes widened as I felt my entire body go stiff.

Erik closed his eyes and pursed his lips, “Damn.” He stood, rubbing his face, “Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn!” He walked to the door of the balcony.

_Fall. I was going to fall. He was going to kill me._

“Rumlow! Tell them to prep the machine. And you two, help me with her!”

He came back to me with the two masked men in tow. “I’m sorry. This— this wasn’t supposed to be this way. I thought I could make you happy. Refocus you. I just— I shouldn’t have told you that. But don’t worry, it’s all going to be fine, I’m going to fix it for you, Dove. It’s all going to be just—.”

I didn’t hear his last word as I felt a sharp jab in my neck and a strong sedative filled my body sending me into a deep dreamless sleep.

———————————————————————————————————————

I came to in a lavishly decorated bedroom with windows overlooking rolling gardens bathed in the pale light of sunrise. _Oh shit_ , I thought, rubbing my eyes and sitting up off the lacily decorated bed.

I heard a familiar voice ring through the halls outside my room. My heart leapt as I scampered out of the bed, tripping on smooth silk as I did. _What the hell?_ I thought looking down at a red silk dress, _Why am I wearing this?_

The voice called again, my name ringing through the empty corridors. I ran towards the door, trying desperately to open it only to find it locked.

“I’m here!” I hollered through the thick wood. “I’m here! Here! In here!” I heard stomps throughout the halls and a new voice this time, closer.

“Here, in here!” I beat on the door. The footsteps came even closer and the doorknob rattled.

“Stand back!”

“Alright!” I scurried back behind the edge of the bed. The door was kicked in with such force that it went flying backwards and hit the opposite wall. I stood to find Steve standing in the now doorless doorway in full Captain America regalia. I ran to him and threw my arms around his neck, letting him lift me off my feet.

“I’ve got her, fifth floor, west corner.” He spoke into his communicator, and within seconds Pietro stood in front of me as well, sweeping me up into his arms and burying his face in my neck.

“I thought I had lost you,” he mumbled into my skin, making me hold him to me even tighter. We parted after a moment, finally giving him the chance to look me up and down for any injuries, and his eyebrows furrowed at the sight of my outfit. “What are you wearing?”

“I have no idea.” The three of us stood in confusion for a moment, trying to piece together why I had woken up in an evening gown when there was a call from Tony on the coms.

“Hey guys? You might wanna see this. Come downstairs, northeast corner, the room with a piano in it.”

In a second, I was back in Pietro’s arms and being whisked downstairs, leaving Steve to get there on his own. I was set back down in a sun filled room, eye to eye with Tony, his suit patrolling the perimeter of the room. The older man caught me in a tight embrace before I could get a word out.

“You had us scared shitless, Sparks.” He gripped me tighter before letting go with a wagging finger. “Don’t you ever get kidnaped by a mad scientist again.”

I rolled my eyes at him, “With my track record? No promises…”’

The rest of the team joined us shortly, each of them coming after me with hugs and worried remarks, until Tony finally directed our attention to him again.

“So first of all, what the hell happened?”

I chewed on my lip, “Honestly? I have no idea. I can’t remember a thing about last night. I’d say I was probably just asleep the whole time, but I woke up in an evening gown…”

“That does put that theory up for debate,” Natasha remarked dryly, walking slowing into the room, followed by Steve.

“That,” Tony walked to the book shelved wall, “as well as this.” Pulling a red book from the shelf, the entire wall slid over, revealing a darkly lit, cramped secret room. We filed in one by one, “I suspect that this is just a more special entrance to the shed on the outside of the house,” Tony walked over to a large covered object in the center of the room, surrounded by blank computers. He removed the dirty sheet from it, letting it collect on the floor with a _thud,_ finally giving the team a good look at it.

I felt my knees go weak, my hand coming up to cover my mouth, tears accumulating in my eyes.

“Printessa?” Pietro was at my side in a second, “What, Printessa are you hurt?” I could only shake my head no as my body began to quiver. He swept me into his arms and rushed me back into the elegant piano room, laying my down on a golden couch and crouching beside me, stroking my face to calm my shaking form.

“I’ve seen that before,” my voice shook, “I— they wiped my memory.”

“They wiped your memory?” Steve asked, following Pietro’s lead and crouching next to me taking my hand.

I nodded, “Yes. They only took the memories from last night, I still remember everything else, but…” I trailed off, letting my gaze fall to Steve, unsure of how to continue as I pieced together my knowledge.

I looked deep into his eyes. _Bucky._

There was a momentary confusion the ran across his eyes before the super solider understood. He got up and stalked out of the room. Several of his teammates moved to follow him, but Natasha halted all movement with a single deadly look before she followed the hero’s path.

I sat up wearily, my breathing back to normal and Pietro’s hands caressing my back and neck. I convinced him I was ok, that I could walk just fine and that all I really wanted was to go home. Wanda, Pietro, and Hawk Eye walked me back to the jet while the rest of the team searched the house. It wasn’t long before most of us had assembled back in the jet, Tony even having the forethought to deliver the old clothes that he had found discarded in my room. Now we were only waiting on Thor, Natasha, and Steve before starting the long trip home.

The final three members of the team staggered into the jet, the two blond heroes carrying the chair from the shed under its tarp. I stiffened in my seat as they brought it in, but they quickly moved it deep into the left wing, as far from me as possible. They set it down, it’s metal base clanging against the floor of the jet uncomfortably, before they moved back to the main area.

“You ready, Stark?” Nat challenged. Tony stood from his seat behind the wheel, grabbing one of his Iron Man gauntlets from the dash, and walked towards the open hangar of the jet. He raised his arm with impeccable aim and took a single shot at the base of the mansion. The house erupted in a furious fireball. Tony nodded with pursed lips, turned, and walked back to his seat, patting Natasha on the back as he passed.

“Good job setting the bombs. Now, Hydra’s out a safe house.”

I turned my head from the waves of heat leaking through the door as it closed, only to find that Steve had settled himself in the seat beside mine. I fixed him with a tired smile and I could tell he tried to return it, even though it didn’t reach his eyes. I knew he had to be thinking about Bucky. I laid a hand over his where it rested on his lap.

“You’ll find him.” I wanted to be more reassuring, but I didn’t know how. He nodded grimly, but quickly nodded towards Pietro in an attempt to change the subject.

“You should’ve seen that one last night,” Steve remarked, quickly changing the topic, he nodded towards the seat on my other side. Pietro had attached himself to my hand as was currently sleeping on my shoulder looking incredibly uncomfortable. “He was beside himself when Bruce told him what happened. He took the portal into your room, saw your phone still on but you gone. I thought he was going to kill someone.”

I laughed, gently lifting his head from my shoulder and laying him down so that he could rest on my lap. He accepted the shift in position immediately, still clutching to my right hand for dear life as he pressed against his lips, still asleep.

“Does this mean you no longer disapprove of our relationship, Steve?” I asked jokingly. He sighed, contemplating the silver haired man and then turning his eyes back to me.

“I don’t have to like it to put up with it. I still think I’ll have to keep an eye on him, but the way he acted last night, how worried he was about you— it definitely didn’t hurt my opinion of him.” I smiled at the super soldier and leaned my head against his chest.

“Tell me a story?” I prodded. He sighed and wrapped a muscled arm around my shoulders.

“About halfway through the war, we were fighting on the fields of France…”


	18. Betrayal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Self doubt

“Pietro!” I hollered through the booming acoustics of the Tower’s main living room. I was nearly giddy with happiness. The week had gone by swimmingly and I simply needed him to make it perfect with his presence. “Pietro!” I called again.

“He’s not here.” Steve’s voice came bright and casual from a nearby hallway. Upon seeing my nervous face, he chuckled. “Don’t worry he’s fine. He’s been out all day anyway, so I figured I’d send him our grocery list, but I made sure to put some very particular things on there, so he won’t be back for a while.”

I raised my brows, “And why, pray tell, did you need him out of the house so desperately?”

He sighed and walked over to me, “Because you have been neglecting your training.” He crossed his arms and stood in front on me like a giant unclimbable wall. “Get changed, you have five minutes to meet me in the training room. Five pushups for every second you’re late.”

“Every second?!”

“Tick tock, Sparks.”

I groaned in frustration and ran towards my room. I stripped like I was getting paid to and threw on the boring S.H.I.E.L.D. regulation active wear that had been collecting dust in my dresser. I slipped in to my most comfortable sneakers and ran to the elevator, took it three floors down, and turned right to the glass walled gym where Steve was waiting for me. He looked down at his watch, then back at me.

“Thirty pushups.”

“Really. For six seconds?”

“Don’t make it thirty five.”

“UUUUHHHHHGGGG.” I dropped to the floor and began repeatedly pushing myself off of it until Steve was satisfied and I was laying broken on the floor. I hated push ups.

“Good, now stretch and then we’ll spar.”

“Yes Captain,” I fill my voice with as much playful distain as I could muster. As much as my body protested, I tended to enjoy my training with Steve. It felt good to have someone push me to my limits, and will me to go further. In a way, he was a bigger confidence booster than my boyfriend.

“Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” I mumbled as we took our places on the mat.

“Now I’ve been going easy on you, but seeing as you’ve been a target of a certain mad scientist lately, I figured we should probably up the dosage.”

I cocked an eyebrow at him and smirked. “Bring it on, _old man_.”

He beat my ass several times in the next hour. It got pathetic after a while, but he claimed that I had improved when I actually managed to land a hit across his face. Not that it phased him at all, but he did let me move out of sparring after that.

“Alright,” he started, leading me away from the main gym, his large arm swingingdown to grab his shield as he left the mat. From the low ceilinged main room, he lead me into the larger back area lined with bullet proof windows overlooking downtown. We usually come back here for the more intense team skirmishes and it ad quickly become everyone’s favorite space in the Tower. Steve’s large frame stalked into the space in front of me, his shield swinging up in front of his chest as he raised his brows at me. “Gimme your best.”

My eyes widened, “With powers?”

He nodded.

“But what if I hurt you?”

His face lit up in amusement and his shield dropped as he strutted towards me. He placed one strong finger beneath my chin and brought his face close to mine. “Try.”

I smiled under his gaze. I sent a strong pulse of electricity from the tips of my fingers straight to his stomach. The super soldier went flying back, his feet skidding against the smooth floor. He regained his balance, the tall frame centering itself over strong legs in a dance-like grace. His bright blue eyes flickered up to mine mischievously. I only had time to grin in response before he charged at me.

By the end of the training session we both had our share of bruises. I left the room limping as the sun set across the wide windows. “’Til next week, yeah?” I threw over my shoulder as I left.

“Sounds good to me, soldier,” came Steve’s delayed reply, echoing against the walls.

I turned back to him once I reached the doorway and smiled, finding his eyes locked on mine. We didn’t say anything, we just looked at each other across a room that might as well have been as wide as the ocean. The smile faded from my face as his eyes searched mine. It seemed like an eternity before I looked away, hurrying towards the elevator that would bring me up to my boyfriend.

The elevator opened with a satisfying _bing_ , and I stepped out into the entry way, Tony’s favorite party space. I trudged my way through the living room, acknowledging Clint and Thor’s friendly “hey”’s with a respectful nod, and slid into Pietro’s domain, nearly collapsing against the door as soon as it closed.

“Printessa!” Pietro ran to me from his bed and scooped me into his arms, swinging me around.

“Oh, wow,” I mumbled happily disoriented, “that’s an awful lot of affection for a Friday night. You must be in a good mood.” He sat down on the bed, still cradling me in his arms.

“I’m always in a good mood when I get to see my beautiful girlfriend.” His words caressed the skin of my neck like velvet and I nuzzled into his touch.

I giggled, but couldn't shake a certain suspicion about his charming antics. Lucky, his low purr was there to distract me.

“Did Steve work you hard, Printessa?”

I nodded into his shirt.

“Awww,” he held me closer and rocked me back and forth as if I were a child, “Then I will cheer you up.”

In the blink of an eye, he had laid me gently on the bed and zoomed into his bathroom. I heard the sound of running water, and soon the scent of soft lavender had drifted through the open door. I flipped over lazily on the bed, shifting to lay provocatively on my side just like those old time Hollywood starlets used to do, I even let my shirt ride up for effect.

Pietro’s face as he walked out of the bathroom was exactly what I’d expected. He crossed to me at human speeds, like he thought that if he moved to fast I would run from him like a doe in the forest. His fingers traced up my legs, over the hills of my hips, and down to the smallest point of my waist where they lingered. Then, in one fluid motion, he swooped my up again, carrying me to the white tiled bathroom. He removed my clothing piece by piece, savoring each inch of flesh he revealed. Once I was bare,I reached up to rid him of his shirt, but he stopped me.

“Not yet,” his quick hands pulled mine away from the hem of the fabric.

I raised my brows at him but didn’t protest further.

He sat behind me, his pants rolled up to the knee as he perched on the tubs edge. He rolled my tired shoulders under his hands.

“Ohh,” I sighed as I relaxed in the warm water. Pietro hummed a chuckle behind me. His hands traipsed around my body, subtly discovering new nooks and crannies that had not yet been introduced to the water.

I hummed in pleasure.

“You like that, Printessa?”

I could hear his smile in his voice as his fingers continued to read every contour of my body. My hand reached around to grab his arm, trying to pull him closer to me. He chuckled and leaned down to kiss just below my ear.

“Oh yes Printessa, you’ve had a very hard day…” he crooned to me, his breath hot on my skin. I squirmed in the water beneath him, trying to face him and pull him under me, clothes and all. His hold steadied me in the water. “But there’ll be time for that later.”

“Goddamn it, Pietro!” I breathed, leaning my head back on his knees in frustration.

“Shh, hush now,” he gathered me against him. “ Trust me. Later. Now stand.” Groaning, I did as he said, wobbling uneasily in the water.

He got up, drying hims legs and motioning for me to follow him. I climbed out clumsily and he ran a fresh, fluffy towel over my body, ridding me of any water. Stepping out from the bathroom, he lead me back to his bed and set me down. In a blue streak he dashed to turn out the lights, and returned to pull me under him on the soft covers.

“Now,” he purred as he crawled over me, “it is later.” He reached up to kiss me hungrily, but I met his lips with half a heart before pulling away. There was something strange that I just couldn’t place. It felt different. Some strange kind of desperate. The same way he'd been feeling ever since he found me in France. Clingy, almost guilty.

“Actually Pietro, I’m really just tired. I’d love to just go to sleep, maybe cuddle?”

He looked surprised, perhaps a little offended, and even worried, but he quickly masked his concern with an easy going smile.

“Of course, Printessa, whatever you would like.”

———————————————————————————————————————

“Guys!” I shrieked as I ran from my universe into theirs, bursting into the living room. Everyone was relaxing, content to watch while Rhodey and Clint arm wrestled on the coffee table, but their eyes turned to me once they heard the excitement in my voice. I waved a piece of paper in the air, “I got into college!” There were exclamations of congratulations echoing through the walls as everyone crowded around me to catch a glimpse of my acceptance letter. Clint was the first to hug me, laughing a “Proud of you kid” loudly. Sam was close behind, poking at my sides and insisting that he always knew I had it in me. Nat gave a warm hug, and Wanda managed a gentle stroke of my arm, probably thinking of the opportunity that she never had. My smile softened at the thought, but quickly returned while vigor as Thor threw me up in the air, caught me on his shoulder and spun me around. I giggled in delight, yet slowly it dawned on me that the two people I had been most excited to tell weren’t here.

“Guys? Where’s Pietro? And where’s Steve?”

“Shit,” murmured Tony, “If they’ve broken any more of my windows, I’ll kill them both.”

“Oh come on, they’ve been getting along better!” I joked. “Wanda, can you find them?”

Wanda gasped, covering her mouth with her hands as she sent her mind to her brother. My heart beat quickened.

“Wanda, what’s wrong? Is he alright? Where is he?” I questioned her franticly, words pouring from my mouth.

She stood stock still, only shaking her head in shock as tears gathered in her eyes.

“Wanda! Please, tell me!” I grabbed her shoulders and shook her, but it was no use. I was running towards the elevator then, determined to find him by myself if she wouldn’t tell me where he was, but I was stopped by Steve’s massive presence in the doorway. I staggered away from him in shock. A remarkable stagnancy fall across the room, as if someone had sucked all the air out the window and we were just what was left. Bruce was the first to move, hurrying out of the room and up to the lab where he could better control himself. All eyes followed him as he went, all eyes except mine and Steve’s which stayed locked on each other. Without a word, the large man stepped through the doorway, revealing what he had hidden behind the wall. He dragged after him a knelling Pietro, fit with a black eye and bleeding scalp. Instinctively I moved towards him, but Steve sharply jerked his head, drawing my eyes back to his face, and his stern Captain expression froze me in my tracks.

“Tell her.” He threw Pietro at my feet and this time my impulse to go to him was halted by the striking realization that he was all but naked, wearing only a pair of boxers. I let my eyes graze over him, and saw small bruises scattered along his neck and chest. _Did Steve leave them?_ I wondered. There weren’t in the shape of hand pints, they were more like— _oh._

Steve stepped through the doorway, this time revealing a girl, blond, thin, _beautiful_ , and wrapped proudly in only a sheet. Pietro’s sheet.

I felt my face go slack.

_Oh_.

I wanted to run. I wanted to cry, but I was frozen to that spot, my face falling like wax melting down a candle.

“Printessa—.” Pietro crawled towards me and took my hand, but I couldn’t even meet his eyes.

“This is her?” I heard the melodic voice of the blonde as she wrenched herself from Steve’s grip and stepped forward gallantly. She glanced warily around the room of super heroes before fixing her eyes on my and looking me up and down. A crocodile grin spread across her face as she attempted to surprise a laugh. “This is the girlfriend we’ve been avoiding?” I could almost hear the fists around the room clench. She walked towards me, her height intimidating me even though I refused to look at her. “God, what did you see in her?” She laughed beautifully as I fought to keep tears from rolling down my cheeks.

“Rhodey, escort this young lady down stairs,” Nat commanded calmly. The tension was palpable as the War Machine crossed to the beautiful blonde and stood, imposingly in front of her. Steve handed him the handful of her clothes and I watched as Rhodey led the girl from the scene and towards a guest bathroom around the corner.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.” Tony’s voice spoke quietly but firmly. “Ensure that security knows that that girl is never allowed here again.”

“Yes sir.”

“You piece of shit.” Clint was the first one on Pietro, punching him in the jaw, affectively knocking him to the floor. Tony wasn’t far behind, setting up to pull the boy up by his bleached blond hair.

“Stop.” My voice was small, but its sureness drew the attention of the room. I fought the tears picking at my eyes. “Just stop,” I managed to gasp out before my voice really broke. I walked briskly out of the room, the acceptance letter falling from my hand as I went. The hallways passed in a blur as I retreated to my room, the door closing swiftly behind me with a satisfying slam.

I collapsed onto my bed, gathering as much blanket as I could between my arms and rolling on my side to hug it into my body. Tears were streaming freely down my cheeks now and quiet sobs racked my body.

“She’s so beautiful,” I moaned to myself. “So perfect. No wonder he wanted her.” My chest heaved and I gasped to gather enough breath in my lungs before expelling it on the next sob. He cheated on me. My first real boyfriend, the one I had given everything to, the one I had been with for almost six months had cheated on me with a _better_ girl. “I just wasn’t good enough for him.”

There was a gentle knock on my door. I sat up from my bed, tangled in sheets stained with tears. Steve’s gentle voice called out to me. I wiped my eyes on my already mascara ruined pillowcase and put on my bravest face as I crossed to the door. I opened it solemnly, feigning composure as I looked up at his pained eyes.

“Yes, Steve?” I pushed all the quiver in my voice back, but I could see my failure in his saddening face. He reached up to wipe a stray tear from my cheek but I flinched away from him. “I’m fine, Steve,” I smiled through my trembling eyelids and tight jaw, “Really. He was a— a jerk, and he found someone better, so whatever. I’m happy for him, for both of them really. I mean, if I really loved him then I’d want him to be happy, and if he wasn’t happy with me, then—.” My throat cut my words short, I felt my eyes welling with tears again, I turned and walked back to my bed, breaking upon it again. Steve followed me in quietly, closing the door behind him with a gentle click. He scanned over my crippled form, sighed, and made his way over to sit on the edge of the bed.

“You know,” he started, “this is an amazing school.” I sat up unsteadily to find him studying the letter that I had dropped earlier. “Even when I was a kid, it was a great school,” he looked back at me, the sadness in his eyes replaced with pure honesty, and a hint of weary sentimentality. “I’m proud of you.” I melted under his cool blue eyes, my tears evaporating under the radiance of his smile.

“Thanks. I couldn’t wait to tell you.”

He folded the paper neatly and set it on my bedside table. He slipped off his shoes, kicked his legs on the bed, and shifted himself until he could lie comfortably with his head on the pillows.

“Come here,” he let me curl against him. He wrapped his arm around my back, “I’m sorry he did that to you.”

I let out a dark laugh, “I guess I was expecting an ‘I told you so’.”

He shook his head, “No, not from me. That’s not what you need right now, I don’t think.” He lifted his head from the pillow for a moment, “I though this would be better, but I suppose I should really be asking you what you need.”

I snuggled into him, “This. This is perfect right now.”

He laid with me for a while, just holding me, stroking up and down my back gently whenever I started to cry again.

The sun was low in the sky by the time all my tears had been shed. My breath had fallen in sync with Steve’s and I had grown accustomed to the rise and fall of my head as it rested on his chest. I didn’t look at him as I asked, “Did they hit him? After I left, did they— did they hurt him?” I felt his breath stall for a half second and then all rush out of his chest in a sigh.

“No, not once you had told them not to. They weren’t about to go against you.” I felt the bed shift as his other hand came up to run through his hair. “But they did yell at him. I thought Clint, Thor, and Tony were going to rip his arms off until I saw Wanda step in and shame the hell outta him. Said she was ashamed to be related to him. And Nat and Sam were trying to look calm and reasonable, but I could tell that they’re planning some way to make his life a living hell. I’m just glad that Bruce wasn’t there or we might have had a situation on our hands.”

I rolled over, turning my back to him and resting my head on his outstretched arm, before sighing a gently into the ever cooling air. “Good.”

I was asleep in another couple of minutes. I have a vague, sleepy memory of the bed shifting when Nat and Wanda came to my door and Steve slipped out of bed to dismiss them kindly. I drifted back into unconsciousness with his warmth beside me. It was one of those awful nights, where sleep weaves in and out of constantly opening eyes, but I was grounded by Steve’s presence, never encroaching or intimidating, simply there.

When I woke the next morning, I was safely nestled in the cocoon of Steve’s chest, one arm pressed beneath me, cupping my waist, the other draped lazily over my shoulders. My head was tucked under his chin so I could feel the tightness of his jaw even in sleep. I shifted to get a better look at his face. His eyebrows were furrowed, his eyes squeezed shut, like he was concentrating deeply on an intense problem.

I looked to my bedside table, the clock glowed an angry 9:30. I hummed drearily, taking moment to rub the sleep out of my eyes. “Steve,” I whispered, nudging his shoulder gently, “Steve, wake up you missed your morning run with Sam.” His eyes flickered open, then his chest expanded to an unimaginable size as he seemed to take in all the air in the room and release it on a hearty exhale. I stood from the bed to give him room and he quickly stretched and sat up. He then stood from the dented mattress as well, looking down on it in a moment of thought before his eyes met mine. He raised his eyebrows at me, then smiled shakily.

“I hope you don’t think that spending the night was my intention,” his voice rumbled, low and gravely from sleep.

I shook my head with a silent laugh, “No, no I understand. It just…” I trailed off, not knowing exactly what it had just.

“Happened.” Steve finished for me. I smiled gratefully.

“Well, I’m gonna get changed, seeing as I’m still in my clothes from yesterday.”

He nodded his understanding as I grabbed a pair of leggings and a tee shirt from my drawers, as well as a comfortable set of underwear, and headed into the bathroom. I was surprised that I had been able to sleep at all last night given what I had been wearing. I peeled the tight bodice of my dress off my body and let the weight of the full skirt drag it down my thighs once it had been detached. My tights had to be similarly dealt with, the tight waistband leaving a red ring around my middle as I freed myself from its clutches. As soon as I was rid of all my confining clothing, I tied my hair up and stepped under the hot stream of the shower. This was usually the best part of my morning, but today I just felt empty. I stepped out from the curtain and dried myself, but I stopped when I saw my blurred image pass the misty mirror. I swiped the corner of my towel across the glass, clearing it, and took a step back. I could almost see my whole body in the mirror, from my knees all the way to my face if I stood just right.

I dropped the towel that I had wrapped around myself and stood naked in front of the mirror. My eyes traveled up my body, coming to rest on my pimpled and blotchy face. I remembered the girl that he had been with, the girl from yesterday, tall, thin, beautiful.

“Disgusting,” I said to myself in the mirror. I stared at my imperfection until the mirror had completely steamed up again before dressing quickly and brushing my teeth, slapping on a fake smile as I left the bathroom.

Steve was just throwing on a shirt as I emerged, his back turned to me. The brief sight of his rippling back muscles was all it took to remind me again how little I fit in with this group of heroes, these _gods_. Before he could turn to face me, I yanked my hair out of its messy bun and used it to shield my face from him as I hurried to the makeshift vanity on the top of my dresser. I squeezed a generous dollop of BB cream on to my fingers before vigorously rubbing it into my skin. I could hear the floor shift behind me as Steve turned to face my back.

“Hey, Sparks,” his tone was gentle, prodding, like he was still testing the waters. “Are you alright?” I flinched when I felt his hand on my shoulder and I pretended to be very interested in mixing the cream on the back of my hand, bending my face out of the reach of the mirror so that Steve couldn’t see my reflection.

“I’m fine, Steve,” I replied cheerily, mixing the tinted cream further and further into the creases of my skin.

He faltered for a moment before putting on his Captain voice. “You’re sure?”

“Yep, I’m just super, Cap.” I winced at my tone, the words coming out more bitterly then I had intended. By now the excess of BB cream had begun to cake on the back of my hand, “I’ll meet you in the kitchen in a sec, K?” I continued in a more gentle tone. This seemed to satiate him seeing as he left without another word, closing the door softly behind him.

I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding as I returned to the task at hand, wiping off the drying mess on my hand with a baby wipe that I kept next to my make up. I hurriedly finished the task, putting more effort in than usual. Rather than just cover up a problem spot or two and swipe a quick coat of mascara over my lashes. But today I evened my skin with my BB cream, applied some lipstick, I even put on some eyeliner, which I usually only do for special occasions. After three minutes, I looked like I was naturally beautiful. The way I was supposed to look. I turned my face back and forth, noticing how one of my eyes opened just slightly more than the other, seeing that my cheekbones were far from symmetrical. I felt tears prickling at my eyes. Even now, with my even skin and widened eyes, I didn’t hold a candle to the girl he had brought last night. I still wasn’t good enough.

I blinked back my tears, refusing to let them fall and streak my hard work, knowing I wouldn’t have time to fix it before Steve came back wondering what was taking me so long. Tearing my eyes away from my ever worsening reflection, I crossed my room, flinging open the door, just to freeze in its frame.

Two doors down the hall, he stood across from me, closing his own door before lifting his eyes to meet mine. He was shirtless, wearing grey sweatpants slung low on his hips, his blond hair tousled by sleep, and his eye still swollen to the point of being completely shut, but it still seemed to widen when he saw me.

“Printessa,” his voice was pleading, his eyes pained as he took a step towards me. I mirrored him, stepping back, pressing myself into the frame of my door. His eyes were sad as he regarded my action, but my eyes were blank. I hadn’t noticed it until I had seen him again, but I truly felt no love for him, no sorrow at the termination of our relationship, not even anger. No, I felt nothing. He didn’t want me, then I didn’t want him. It was as simple as that. I let my eyes show that same nothingness, piercing an emptiness across the room that felt so real, it could almost be touched. I watched as it hit him, stunning him out of his sadness. It took him a moment to recover, but soon he was coming towards me again, his head leading him forward, just like it did when he would come to kiss me.

He had barely made it three steps before he was stopped again, this time by the punctual arrival of Thor in the doorway of one of the few room that lay between us on our hallway. It didn’t take long for the large God to survey the situation and begin staring down the smaller blond until the Sokovian faltered, throwing one last glance at me before disappearing in a blue blur.

Thor’s menacing look took a complete 180 as he turned to me, smiled warmly, and proceeded to swoop me up in his arms. But the joy I usually felt in his grasp was replaced by a sudden self consciousness.

“Thor? Could you put me down? Please?” My voice seemed to shrink with every word like a flame slowly deprived of oxygen.

He looked saddened at my request, but obliged, probably assuming I was still in pain due to my break up. I walked side by side with the large man into the kitchen when Steve sat waiting with Sam. Without a word the Falcon circumnavigated the kitchen island and engulfed me in his arms. He didn’t say or do anything else, he knew he didn’t need to. He pulled away and looked straight into my eyes, but his gaze way quickly drawn to the thin line above my lashes. I looked away from him quickly, he knew how much I hated wearing eyeliner so my intensified lash line was a dead giveaway that something was up. I quickly changed the subject.

“So Thor, what are you doing in Midgard?” I posed nonchalantly, seating myself on the counter. “Asgard getting too dull?”

The god chuckled lowly, “No, I was in town as a favor to my friend, she was chasing an artifact and asked me to assist her in retrieving it when she found that it could only be handled by one with powers such as mine. So once it was contained, I sent her back to Asgard and came by here to ensure Tony had not gotten himself into anymore trouble.”

“God, you make _one_ killer robot,” Tony entered the kitchen shaking his head with Bruce following close behind him, “and suddenly you get check ups with gods.” He approached me, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder as he passed me to lean on the counter to my left while Bruce came to rest on my right. “Now darling, since you left so quickly last night after declaring no violence and you’ve had plenty of time to reconsider,” the engineer began diplomatically, “would you like us to chop his dick off?”

I laughed loudly at the offer and Tony raised his hands in defense, “Hey now, Clint and Nat have already agreed to hold him down.” I shook my head again.

“Thank you Tony—.”

“We’ll do it. We’re not kidding.” Bruce was suddenly very serious. I put a hand on his shoulder.

“Thank you both so much for the lovely offer, but it really isn’t necessary. Honestly, in my mind, I’m already over him. If he doesn’t want me,” I shrugged, “then I don’t want him.”

“That’s my girl!” Rhodey called as he rounded the corner into he kitchen followed closely by Nat. She smiled at me as she passed, squeezing my knee in reassurance.

“Yeah, I’m just done.” I smiled at all the supportive faces around the room. “Good,” Steve smiled at me from across the kitchen.

I tried to smile back, but only winced. Instead I changed the subject. “Alright, you guys. Since it’s already past training time and no one is even trying to work—.”

“Clint and Wanda are downstairs training right now.” Rhodey pipped up.

I rolled my eyes, “Ok, since no one _except the obsessive workaholics_ is working today, I’m going to go ahead and go home. Gotta tell my mom the news…” I hopped off the counter, weaving my way through the team as I made my way towards the portal. I slid out of the room in record time, escaping through the portal in a flash of light, evading the looks exchanged between each of the avengers. Something was wrong and they knew it. But what could be done?


	19. Something's wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Slf doubt, some depressive and ED tones throughout

I got a lot of calls throughout that week. Most were from Nat and Wanda, but I did get a heartwarming ring from Sam and Steve on Wednesday. By the time I was headed back to the tower for the monthly Friday team movie night, I was feeling almost good.

I would love to say that my mood was due to my mom surrounding me with love and recordings of all the best romantic comedies to cheer me up, or the few people that I had started to talk to, but that’s not the truth. I had just been happy to forget for a while. Happy to not have to face him. I still couldn’t eat much, and my sleep was spotty at best, but at home in my own world, it seemed like the darkness ebbed a bit— almost like I had moved out of its reach.

I walked through the portal Friday night, my head feeling as light and dizzy as I steeled myself for the new wave of social interactions. I had just finished my last day of school before winter break and had already changed in to my comfiest pair of sweatpants and my softest tee. I was still wearing a truckload of makeup, but I could feel some of my confidence starting to creep back. At least, I was feeling more confident than I had seven days ago.

“Hey!” Bruce’s gentle voice caressed the high ceilinged room as I stepped through the portal. He and Tony sauntered down the staircase that led to the lab. He met me with a quick hug, releasing me quickly in excitement. “You wanna see what we made?”

“It’s pretty awesome,” Tony hyped. I looked at them skeptically.

“If it’s another robot, I swear to you—.”

“It’s not.”

“We promise.” The both of them beamed with pride as they stood looking at me expectantly. I sighed and rolled my eyes at them, motioning for them to lead me upstairs. Tony slung an arm over my shoulder as we walked.

“So, we took the suit you’ve been wearing on missions,” we began walking up the stairs to the lab, “and we took the liberty of making a few modifications.”

“Just a few little things,” Bruce chimed in. He held the door open for me as I walked into the pristine lab. In the center was the familiar black suit I had donned before the few missions I had been on, but as I got closer, I noticed what they meant when they said “modifications”.

The previously zip up neckline had been replaced with a simple high neck, _probably the scientists’ idea of protecting my virtue,_ I thought mentally rolling my eyes. I looked further down the suit to find that it’s material had also been changed to one that looked lighter, thinner, yet had a glossy finish, almost like—.

“We replaced the old fabric with this,” Tony explained, walking over to the form. “Inspired by rubber, but lighter and more breathable. So this way, if you have any electronics on you when you try to shock something— or someone— they won’t spaz out. Which reminds me…” He crossed to a table next to the suit, grabbing what looked like a gold crown off its surface. “Try this on for size.”

He slipped the circlet over my head, the sides nestling neatly above my ears and the front raising gracefully to skate above my hairline and coming to a delicate peak at the center. The engineer flipped a small devise attached to the crown over my right ear.

“This is your new ear piece. Made entirely out of the same rubber-inspired material as your suit so it won’t short out like last time,” Bruce explained. My mind flew back to the memory of that first base I had infiltrated, remembering vaguely when I had managed to completely disable my com with a blast of energy. “And the crown, as we’re calling it,” he continued, “is to minimize the contact between you and the com as much as possible, just in case.”

“Wow,” I breathed, brushing my fingers over where fingerless gloves with thin metal plates on the palms met shiny black sleeve. “So, your guys’s idea of ‘a few modifications’ is an entirely new suit?” I looked at them excitedly as they shrugged. I went back to admiring my new suit, when something new caught my eye. I had noticed briefly before the strands of gold weaving around the waist of my suit, but upon closer inspection, I found that they were actually metal. I ran the gold under my fingers.

“Oh that,” Tony said smugly. He walked over to the suit and grabbed the gold wire at its right hip were it grew thicker before ending abruptly.

“You should stand back,” Bruce advised with a smirk. I obeyed with raised brows.

Tony pressed a small button on the inside of the wire, and it suddenly began unwinding itself before falling limp in his hand. “A whip.” He declared simply. My mouth fell open in shock.

“See we were thinking—.”

“We? No, Bruce this was you brain baby, go ahead, take credit I don’t mind.”

“Well, you could electrocute it see? Use it like a—.”

“Tentacle of doom.”

“Precisely.”

I laughed in disbelief, my hand flying to cover my still gaping mouth. “You two are the absolute best.” I hugged them both in turn and took ahold of my new toy. Its weight was strangely comfortable in my hand. I pressed the same button I had seen Tony use before and watched as the golden whip wound itself back around the waist of the suit. “How does it even do that?”

“Magnets. Science. Fun stuff.” Tony’s explanation was brief. “Now you’ll have to leave it all here, we’re still working out a few kinks with the gloves and the whip, but it should be ready by the next mission.” I smiled at them again before glancing longingly at my new suit as they lead me out of their precious lab.

“Nat’s gonna be so jealous,” I sang as we walked down the stairs earning a snicker from Bruce. We rounded the corner into the living room to find Wanda, Sam, and Clint already sitting on the couch. They turned when they saw us, and smiled.

“Steve and Pietro are out grabbing the pizza,” Clint informed us. I raised my eyebrows at the odd pairing. “Cap said he needed to talk to him,” Clint explained suggestively.

“Then let’s hope he comes back with both his legs; he’s still useful in the field.” Nat sashayed into the room and threw her arms over my shoulders from behind. I giggled, which was a rarity for me, as she waddled her way to the love seat to the left of the couch, pulling me on to her lap. I squirmed uncomfortably, trying to keep a fake smile plastered on my face as I tried to get off of her. I suddenly felt like a bother. Like I was taking up too much of their space, like I was crushing her and she just wouldn’t say anything. I righted myself on the couch next to the assassin, but couldn’t manage to escape a suspicious glance from her. I quickly moved my attention away from her and to Clint and Sam on the far end of the couch.

“I bet they’ll get the pizza here by 7:30,” Clint prodded, nudging Sam with his elbow.

“No way the two of them are getting back here by then!” Sam parried. “They’ll be here way after than 7:30 without a doubt.” Hawkguy raised his brows.

“Twenty bucks?”

They shook on it.

“I swear you two can bet on anything,” I said loudly, trying to get Natasha’s attention off of me and on to just about anything else. I could nearly feel her eyes boring holes into the side of my head.

Lucky for me, Bruce decided to perch on the arm of the seat next to Nat and place a gentle hand on her shoulder. She looked to him and quickly forgot about me as he began to ask her shyly about her day. I was relieved to jump into conversation with Wanda about her latest training just to be involved in something other than Natasha’s curiosity. She was just telling me how she was discovering how to create long lasting, durable force fields when Steve and Pietro walked in with the pizzas at precisely 7:29.

“YES!” Clint shouted, jumping up from the couch and demanding high fives from Wanda and myself while Sam buried his head in his hands.

“Two minutes? You couldn’t take two more goddamn minutes?” Sam muttered, digging in his pockets and handing a neatly folded $20 to Clint who snatched it with an over dramatic swoop.

“I’ve told you to stop betting with him, Sam,” Steve shook his head as he placed a tall stack of pizzas on the coffee table effortlessly with one hand, “it’s not my fault you lost.”

“Yeah, yeah. I still won last time,” the falcon defended.

“Well, let me know when ‘last time’ means ‘now,’ buddy.”

I scoffed at the men’s bickering, but my smirk fell when Pietro walked past me to place to remaining pizzas on the table. Our eyes met and he was suddenly all too close to me. He moved even closer as he went to claim the seat on the couch corner nearest to me, but he stopped dead in his tracks when Tony cleared his throat behind him. The blond boy surveyed the room, noticing that every pair of eyes were on him, from Vision, who had just emerged from the hallway, to Clint who seemed to be imagining fifty different ways to skin him.

“Why don’t you sit over here, _buddy_?” Never had the word held more venom than when it leaked out of Tony’s mouth as he gestured to the seat farthest from me, next to himself. Pietro looked around the room nervously before walking reluctantly to the seat the elder man had suggested. Everyone seemed to take a deep breath in as the tension cleared the room, like a thick fog dissipating beneath our feet.

“What will we be watching tonight?” Vision asked, finally getting more comfortable with the human aspects of life.

“Well,” Tony began, “if we were going by the rotation, it would be Pietro’s turn tonight. But since I have a personal policy against letting giant bags of dicks pick movies for me, we’re gonna go ahead and skip him and go right to Wanda.”

“Mother of God,” Pietro muttered under his breath.

“I’m sorry, do you have a problem with that you pretentious little shit?” Tony attacked, earning an eye roll form the speedster. “If I had my way, we would’ve beat the crap outta you already. The only reason you’re still living is that _that girl_ ,” he pointed to me, “is a fucking saint. So stop muttering to yourself and show some gratitude.” Pietro got up to leave.

“Tony, stop,” I ordered. I looked at Pietro who had frozen where he stood, his eyes glued to mine. “Sit down, Pietro. You’re still a part of this team. The rest of them will get over it soon.”

His eyebrows raised, “And are you ‘over it’ yet, Printessa?”

I didn’t even flinch at the mention of my old nickname, but I looked into his pained eyes and my heart softened. Everyone else had been giving him hell and he was clearly starting to feel the effects.

“Yes, I am,” I answered. “In fact, you have my blessing to date that girl if you really want, although I would hope you find someone nicer.” I smiled gently at his ever falling face. “Sit back down, Pietro, please. It’s alright. It was stupid, and I hope you’ll never do it to anyone else, but it’s alright.” It didn’t feel like a lie to say it, I didn’t even feel like it was his fault. Logically, I knew it was, but really I thought that it was my fault, my fault for not being good enough.

My little speech seemed to convince him, and he sat back down. People began dishing out pizza, Wanda put on King Kong, and everyone fell quiet. It felt like old times. I sat with a plain slice soaking through my paper plate in my hands as I pretended to be engrossed in the movie. I put my slice on the coffee table, standing to go to the bathroom, but only stepping into my room to try and collect myself.

“Ok,” I muttered to myself, “You’re ok, this is going fine. It’s just pizza. It’s just a movie. You can do this.” I took a deep breath and walked back to my place on the love seat behind Nat. I picked up my plate and began to nibble on the cheesy slice, trying to make it last as long as possible. I watched the pretty blonde flit across the screen. I think her name is Naomi or something but I truly didn’t care. All I could focus on was how beautiful she was. She was so pretty, _everyone_ was so pretty. I looked at Nat, with her red hair, and womanly curves and a waist to rival any of the Hollywood starlets. And Wanda, who was as skinny as a rail and absolutely beautiful. Hardly a fifth of the way through my pizza, I set it back down on the table in front of me, unable to take another bite. That sorrow had filled me again, making my feel sick and uneasy as I swayed in my seat. It was halfway through the movie before I couldn’t stand the sight of the beautiful actress in front of me.

“I’m gonna call it a night,” I announced to the team, hastily picking up my unfinished pizza so no one who call me out on it.

“You sure? It’s only 9…” Steve asked worriedly, casting a glance towards the plate in my hand. _Damn, not subtle enough._

“Mmhm, I’m really tired.” I walked away from the group, tossing the remnants of my food into the kitchen trash as I left. I purposefully avoided any eye contact as I left, yet one pair caught me before I could leave. Ice blue eyes peaking out from blond lashes freezing me in my tracks. We looked at each other for what couldn’t have been more than a second, but felt like a year. Then I turned and left. Walking briskly to my room and collapsing on my bed. Pietro’s eyes had always been my weakness, but when they use to make me melt into his arms, now I just seemed to collapse under the weight of the world.

I turned on top of the sheets, letting them twist around my legs. I just couldn’t wrap my head around the whole situation. I knew that I wasn’t crying over him, I never cried over old boyfriends. And even though I _knew_ that he was the cause of everything that went wrong, I just couldn’t help but blame myself. I wasn’t mad at him, I didn’t want him back, in fact I spent more time focusing on his girl than I did on him. _His girl._ Not me, her. The pretty one. This was my fault because I didn’t look like her. _No, no that doesn’t make any sense—_ my mind was fighting itself. No, no I’m right, if I had looked like her he wouldn’t have had to leave. “ _Had to leave”? How did he “have to leave”?_ No, he did what he had to do. He couldn’t stay with me, just look at him. And look at you.

I stood up, grabbing some pjs from my dresser as I stormed into the bathroom. I rid myself of my clothes and stood in front of the mirror again. I scrunched up my nose. I threw on my pjs and climbed back into bed, settling myself between the sheets. I ignored the thoughts that churned darkly in my mind, and focused all my energy on sleep. Sleep…

———————————————————————————————————————

“Get up kiddo, ya slept through your alarm!” Tony banged on my door. I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes before looking at my clock.

_Shit._

The numbers glowed an ugly 8:30. So I should’ve been downstairs for training fifteen minutes ago. Steve was gonna be pissed. I slapped on training leggings and a loose tank top and ran to the elevator, bouncing on the balls of my toes as I waited for it.

_Goodbye life, it was nice knowing you,_ I thought as I imagined all the ways Steve would murder me for being this late. I cowered in the back of the elevator as the doors slid open, waiting for Steve’s impending glare…

Yet none came. The doors glided open effortlessly, revealing Steve reclining on a stack of mats with Sam laughing with him nearby. I crept into the room shyly, waiting for them to notice me and begin their reprimanding. They found me with their smiling eyes and paused their conversation.

“Well look who finally rolled outta bed!” Sam teased, eyeing my tousled appearance. I attempted to smooth down my hair and wiped a line of dried spit from the corner of my mouth. I gathered the nest of hair and tamed it was a single hair tie from my wrist as I walked over to the pair.

“Sorry, Steve,” I mumbled, my eyes downcast. He just shook his head.

“It’s alright, you don’t do it often. And it seems like you needed the sleep,” he stood and walked towards me, clapping a large hand on my shoulder with a soft grin. “I just hope Tony wasn’t too brutal when he woke you.”

I shook my head, startled silent by his relaxed nature.

He glanced at Sam, “I though we would train with the Falcon today. Get you used to fighting someone other than me.”

I nodded dumbly.

He smiled again, glancing at the workout gear in the main gym. “Warm up, then meet us in the back.” He and Sam passed me as they walked into the larger glass studio, the thinner man giving my ponytail a playful tug as he went.

I went through my warm ups in a daze, still half asleep. My body seemed to drag through the motions my mind dictated, but it still managed to do them to some degree. Once I felt like I had spent enough time working my body that Steve wouldn’t lecture me on the importance of the practice, I slid open the door to the back room to find Steve and Sam wrestling on the floor.

I smiled, “You started without me?” I clutched my chest and gasped in a lazy mock of insult. They smiled at me as Steve helped Sam off the floor where he had pinned him.

“You’re right, as usual,” he teased with tight lips hiding a smile. “How rude of us.”

I walked over to them in the middle of the room. “So what’s the plan today, Cap?”

He surveyed the space lazily in his quintessential Captain America way before looking down at me with a smile.

_Why’s he being so nice today?_ I thought.

“Well, you should be training with people other than me, getting used to one skill set is never good. That’s why I thought it would be a good idea to bring Sam down today. No powers, just some basic hand to hand to start out.”

I nodded my understanding and gave my ponytail an extra tug to tighten it. “Alright, then. Sounds good,” I paced towards Sam and smirked. “Whenever you’re ready Wilson,” I taunted.

He laughed me off and stepped away before turning to face me. Steve looked between the two of us, but when his eyes glanced at me they fell for just half a second, before his smiling facade was back in place. “Alright you two… One, two… Go!”

Sam started on the offensive, lunging at me with full force, knowing he could over power me easily. I side stepped him and spun out of the way, immediately regretting the action as my head span. I shook off the wave of dizziness, hoping neither of them noticed, and blissfully, Sam seemed completely unaware, but Steve’s frown told me that my attempts had not been entirely successful. If he did see anything, he didn’t make mention of it as Sam and I faced off again, each of us thinking of how to adapt to this new partner’s fighting style. I crouched low, in a position that kept me in the perfect place to either trip him or roll away, with the added advantage that his height would keep him from changing levels as quickly as I could.

I grinned as he adjusted himself lower, trying to match my movements, but I lost sight of him briefly as my eyes glossed over, blurring my view. I blinked away the obscuring haze just in time to roll away from Sam’s dive, but not nearly fast enough. He caught my ankle as we squirmed on the floor, pulling me back towards him with a triumphant glee in his eye. I twisted out of his hold and attempted to flip over his now knelling form, but I underestimated his strength. He caught me by my middle and flung me across the room where I lay crumpled on my side.

Now the room was really spinning. My eyes blinked lazily on their own accord and between the bouts of darkness I could seen Steve and Sam rushing towards me, worry etched on their faces. I tried to lift my throbbing head from the floor, but only succeeded in raising it about an inch off the ground before its weight sent it plummeting back to the floor. I groaned in pain.

I heard Steve’s voice muffled from beside me as his hands tried to coax me into sitting up.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—.”

“It’s not you, Sam,” Steve’s voice cut him off kindly, if curtly. “She knows better than that.”

The two men held my crumpled form in a seated position as I tried to gather my bearings. My head lolled back and forth as I was unable to steady it until Steve’s large hand supported the back of my neck, strong fingers massaging the flesh he found there. The two of them looked me over, still holding me upright as my head span.

Sam pursed his lips, “We need to take her to Bruce. Something’s up.”

Steve nodded, shaking his head, “You’re right.” He looked like he wanted to say more, but instead he just threaded his free arm under my knees and lifted me as he stood. “He isn’t gonna be happy to see her like this,” he mumbled as Sam gently set my head in the crook of Steve’s neck.

“None of us are,” Sam replied, looking more frustrated with every second. He ran a hand over his head, “If I find out that that dick ex of hers is doing something to make her like this, I swear I’ll—.”

“I know,” Steve didn't take his eyes off me as he turned to carry me up stairs. “But if he is doing something,” he called as we left, stopping and meeting his eyes with a level of grim seriousness that he rarely used outside of missions. “You might have to get in line.”

———————————————————————————————————————

I was half aware of my journey up to the medical bay, the rhythmic rocking of Steve’s stride lulling me into a state of calm. I heard, and felt, him sigh deeply once we got in the elevator, murmuring to me, “What’s going on?”

I only hummed in response, my head still spinning.

He sighed again, as if he wasn’t really expecting a real answer anyway. I let my eyes drift closed after that, enjoying the feeling of my head pillowed on his shoulders. His strong arms wrapped under my legs and around my back, pulling me towards him when my arms fell from around his neck as sleep claimed me.

When I woke, I was lying on one of the unfortunately familiar beds in the medical center above the lab. I groaned as I sat up, rubbing my head.

“Look who’s up!” Tony’s voice was even more grating than usual with my pounding head. He, Bruce, and Steve walked over to my bed from where they had been discussing with the doctor outside and all came to stand by my bed with crossed arms and thinned eyes. I shrank down in my bed, knowing I was in for a lecture.

Bruce started. “Do you have any idea how low your blood sugar was?”

Then Tony. “You have to take care of yourself!”

And Steve. “I can’t train you if you aren’t being careful with your body!”

“Alright!” I yelled, shutting them down, “I hear you, I get it, you’re pissed. I won’t do it again!” I lied. The two scientists were taken a back by my outburst, but Steve only glared harder, boring his eyes into mine. I broke first, huffing and rolling my eyes at him before falling back into bed and burying my face in my pillow. “You’re being ridiculous,” I murmured into the fabric. I heard them leave, but I didn’t look up.

A few hours later, doctor Helen Cho deemed me fit to leave, deciding that my condition was minor and would be better in a few days. She did insist on giving me a granola bar before letting me go, I told her I’d eat it, but I that voice in my head knew it’d come up just as quickly as it went down.

I shut the door once I got in and leaned against it. _What do I do now?_ I wondered. I hadn’t made any plans for today, and I know that Steve would be too pissed to hang out. I saw my phone on the dresser across from me and went to grab it, and an idea came to me once I touched the smooth surface. I tucked the device into my waistband and crept back over to my door. I opened it just a crack, suddenly nervous of being seen, and slipped outside, hurrying to the elevators. I hit the floor of the gym and watched as the floors counted down, praying that the doors wouldn’t open prematurely. My prayers were answered as I slipped out of the elevator and crept along a side hall on the gym floor until I found what I had been looking for. It was a practice room, rather large, and one side was just a giant window facing the west, but the thing that made this room special was the wall of mirror and the sound system. It was a dance studio that I had discovered when I was exploring the tower earlier in the year. It was probably built for Pepper’s Zumba workouts, but it was all I needed for right now.

I flicked on the lights and plugged my phone into the speakers. I went back to shut the door tightly so that no one would hear the music. I put on my pandora playlist for old jazz music, it always played all the classics, Sinatra, Liza, Sarah Von. It was just what I needed.

I found my way to the center of the floor as the first notes of “Speak Low” fell through the speakers. I breathed in the sound, smiling. I hadn’t danced in years, but the feel of the studio floor on my feet soothed me somehow. I let myself walk to the beat of the music, taking care to keep my eyes off the mirror that stretched across the far wall. I let myself rise and fall with the chorus, and got lost in the sounds around me.

But suddenly the dizziness was on me again, and my new found sanctuary started a dangerous spin. I crouched down to the floor, clutching my knees to my chest, trying to steady my breathing as best I could. That is until the song ended and a very different sound reached my ears.

“You know,” Nat started while some of the color began to return to my face, “This is how I get away from all of it too, that’s why I asked Pepper to put the studio in when they were renovating.”

I let out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding, “Oh yeah, I remember you did ballet. Didn’t you?”

She nodded with a small sad smile, and for an instant, the assassin’s eyes glazed over as if her gaze had traveled back in memory. She was back in an instant, blinking her thoughts away.

“Heard you had a little trouble with Wilson today.”

“You heard about that?” I laughed nonchalantly.

“Yes,” she hissed in a tone that shut down my attempt at playfulness, “and you do have to be more careful.”

“I hit my head, Nat, what should I be careful of?” I countered, looking deep into her eyes. _She knows,_ I thought. She thinned her eyes at me, but didn’t pursue the subject any further.

“I know you’re going to want to spend most of your break with your family, and you won’t be here to go on any missions after what you pulled today—.”

“Nat, I promise I’m fine—.”

She ignored me. “Tony’s throwing a New Years Party next week. Nine o’clock. Don’t be late.” She started to walk out the door of the studio before stopping and looking back at me. “And don’t do anything stupid in the meantime.”

I hadn’t even realized that the next song had come on halfway through our conversation. I didn’t care, I grabbed my phone and ran up to my room, changing out of my gym clothes and into simple jeans and heading back through the portal. Back to my own world for a while.

No one questioned me once I got there. My family had been living their lives, trying to cope with my new lifestyle. They were just glad to have me back. And like before, those hard feeling started to fade again, just a little. Sleep started to come easier. I could finally manage more than a few bites at meals. My family had my back, same as my friends did across the portal, but somehow at home— my life was brighter. That shadow that set over me so insidiously in that other universe could only cloud my mind instead of over taking it. And that sinking feeling started to pool in my stomach again as I wondered, _could it be my friends making me sick?_


	20. New Years

I stepped through the portal at 15 minutes after nine, feeling comfortably late for a party that was, practically, in my own home. I didn’t expect many people to be in the main living room, as I knew that Tony tended to keep his parties around the bar, but much to my surprise, there were a few people around as I made my entrance. A murmur of confusion stirred among the crowd as they were not yet drunk enough to excuse someone walking out of the wall, but their murmurs died down once Tony came over to me, patting me on the back firmly.

“It’s alright everyone!” he hollered. “Just keep drinking.”

The few people in the room laughed at that and continued going about their business. Tony meanwhile wrapped a gentle arm around my shoulders and led me into the other room.

“Thank you for that,” I breathed shyly.

He smirked down at me, “Anytime. And might I add how absolutely gorgeous you look? My word! We haven’t seen you in so long I had almost forgotten what you looked like…”

I felt a pang of guilt and looked towards the floor, but his fingers were lifting my chin as soon as it dropped.

“Hey, you needed time. I get it. I didn’t mean to make it sound like I was blaming you, we just missed you is all.” He gave me a smile that I readily returned and continued leading me towards some of the other member of the team. “Avengers!” he called mockingly, then grinned, “I found the most beautiful girl walking through our wall, do any of you recognize her?”

I blushed and looked down again, but this time only in reaction to his flattery. I had chosen my outfit with meticulous precision tonight, needing to find something that would hide and show everything in the correct order. In the end, I settled on a dress I had bought over the summer, simple black and pleasantly short, but it was a wonderful sheath shape that skidded right over most everything and sent eyes straight to my elongated legs and killer heels. Aside from that, I had done my face with a classic cat eye and sultry red lips and my hair done up in a french twist. _At least_ , I thought at my last look in the mirror, _I can still make do_.

The team greeted me enthusiastically, each one complimenting me on my appearance and complaining that they had missed me too much. Sam and Banner asked how I was feeling, a question I waved away with a smile, and Nat eyed me suspiciously, but still smiled and embraced me warmly as everyone else had. The last one to greet me was Steve, who stood slowly from the couch with a look of utter sincerity. “You look beautiful.”

I blushed under his intense gaze, but refused to break eye contact. Eventually we both broke away to come together in a tight hug.

“I’m sorry for last time.” I said. “I should’ve been more careful.”

“No, I shouldn’t have been so hard on you. It was a mistake, I know that now.”

We pulled apart, our eyes meeting again, this time with smiles on our faces.

“Sit,” he offered, gesturing to the place next to his, “I’ll go get you a drink.”

His hand lingered on my shoulder as he left, the exchange earning an inquisitive look from Natasha even though everyone else had moved their focus to a conversation on technology vs. skill. The debate was just getting heated when Steve returned with my drink.

“It was what you got last time,” he mentioned as he sat down next to me, our sides brushing together. I thanked him with a simple nod and began to sip at my drink casually.

Tony and Clint were really going at it now, even though Clint managed to keep the debate light with various jokes.

“But wait now,” the archer began, “what if you got your skill through technology?” He gestured to Steve and then to Bruce. “A mutation done by science, but they’re the ones who—.”

I stopped listening when a gentle finger tapped my shoulder. I turned around to find two beautiful green eyes on a man with dark brown hair; he couldn’t have been more than twenty or twenty-one. He grinned at me and his smile seemed to light up the room.

“Wanna dance?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. I thought for a moment. I had no boyfriend, and I hadn’t seen Pietro yet… I smiled and nodded at him, taking his hand as we joined the mass of twenty and thirty somethings on the dance floor. I remembered something about this party being open to many of the Stark Industries/S.H.I.E.L.D. employees if they were at a certain level or had the right connections. It was refreshing to be around people my age, or at least closer to my age. The green eyed man turned me around to face him once he found a good spot, nestled well in the center of the mass.

“What’s your name?” I inquired loudly.

“Michael,” he answered, grabbing my hips as they swayed to the music.

I enjoyed his touch, and moved just barely closer to him, “My name’s—.”

“Oh I know,” he chuckled. He turned me around so that my back rested against his chest, and my ass fell right over his hips. “Don’t think I didn’t recognize you. The whole company’s been buzzing about you: _the girl from another universe_.”

I found myself blushing again, and growing just the tiniest bit uncomfortable at how this very attractive man was gripping my hips.

“When I saw you, I just knew I had to try,” his hands moved, pulling me closer to him, one moving up my stomach, the other moving down.

I stiffened, “Stop now.” I figured I’d give him a warning.

“And why should I…” I felt his smile against my neck as his fingers traveled further down my body. What happened next was all a bit of a blur. I remember elbowing him hard in the stomach, curling his body away from mine, but before I could turn, I felt strong arms prying his hands from me and throwing him to the ground. I spun expecting to see Clint or Tony, but most likely Steve standing over him, but instead I saw the back of a man I didn’t know. I frozen in momentary confusion as this mystery man proceeded to lift Michael up by the front of his button down and fling him towards the elevator. Everyone was still as the disgraced man waited patiently for the elevator to arrive, the DJ had even stopped the music. I turned to find all the Avengers on their feet, most looking at the man in distain, but Steve looking at me in worry.

I turned back to the man who had assisted me to finding him looking back at me as well. He was taller than Michael had been, with short hair and deep brown eyes and a white shirt that offset his dark skin. He took my breath away.

“I know you could’ve handled it,” he began, walking towards me, “I just didn’t want you to _have_ to.” He smiled softly as he crossed to me. “Are you alright?”

I nodded mutely.

“Alright everyone,” Pepper addressed the room. “Now that the _problem_ has been removed,” she glared at the closing elevator doors. “Let’s get back to celebrating the new year!”

Everyone cheered, the music went back on, and I felt her reassuring hand on my shoulder as she passed to which I replied with an equally reassuring smile before turning back towards tall, dark, and handsome. He held out his hand for me to take, I gladly accepted and ket him guide me off the dance floor and into a side hallway where there was less noise.

“So what’s your name?” I asked. He turned to face me and I shrugged, “I can’t keep calling you ‘tall, dark, and handsome’ in my head. One day it might slip out.”

He let out a light chuckle at my attempt at humor. “Chase,” he answered, “My name is Chase.”

“Chase,” I repeated, mesmerized by the smile dancing in his eyes. He glanced around us, noticing how alone we were.

“I—um,” he started, “I wonder if there’s somewhere we could go talk? I’d like to get to know you better.”

I blushed under his nervous smile and nodded quickly, taking his hand and leading him into the quiet living room. There were a few people still milling about the edges, but they were filing into the main hall with speed. I curled myself on the couch and gestured for him to do the same. He smiled and followed suit, seating himself comfortably close to me, so that his knee brushed against mine. I smiled at the contact.

It was nice, to just sit there and talk. Talk to somebody normal, just a guy, not a superhero or anything, just a nice guy. He told me about how he grew up in San Francisco, how he joined S.H.I.E.L.D. in their raising physicist program after high school. He was brilliant apparently, being recruited by the agency after only a year of college study. He had been among the many who had stayed loyal to the program when Hydra was revealed, and had even fought against them when they attacked his base. But he made it clear that he wasn’t a fighter, he was just a scientist. And he was funny, constantly cracking little jokes about his life the whole time he talked. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been so happy.

“Hey,” Sam popped his head through the doorway, glancing at the two of us gruffly before grinning. “I just wanted to let you know that you’ve got one minute ’til the new year.” He winked and slipped back into the party, leaving us looking at each other. He smiled at me, his dark eyes glinting in the gentle light. I returned the smile and stood, walking towards the large window facing the south of the island, giving me a clear view of the Hudson and East rivers before they disappeared behind the skyscrapers of lower Manhattan.

I felt Chase following behind me, his hand coming to rest gently on my waist; not low enough to offend, but certainly a bold move. I turned to him, the smile leaving my lips as his eyes caressed me sincerely. I brought my hand to his shoulder, we could hear the chant of the countdown from the party goers in the other room.

“Ten,” I whispered along with them. He guided my body closer to his.

“Nine,” his lips quirked up subtly.

“Eight,” my lips mimicked his.

“Seven,” his head moved closer to mine.

“Six,” my other hand wrapped around his neck.

“Five,” his came to hold my cheek.

“Four,” I looked in his eyes.

“Three,” he looked in mine.

“Two,” I couldn’t breath.

“One.” His voice was barely audible as he breathed out the last number before crashing his lips to mine. I pulled his face closer, deepening the kiss, while his hands gripped my sides and arched my back into him. It seemed like forever before we parted, the both of our chests heaving, excitement and lust flooding our eyes.

“Happy New Year,” I panted, my heart hammering.

He smiled, then laughed, resting his forehead on mine, eyes closed in mirth. When he opened them, he looked into mine, lovingly. “Happy New Year,” he parroted. “And so far,” he kissed me again, lightly, and pulled away just enough to leave his lips brushing mine, “it’s been a pretty good one.”

I chuckled at that, kissing him again. “Well I’m glad I could make the first minute of the New Year special.”

He pulled away again to look my in the eye, “How would you feel about making the rest of it special?” he asked. I blushed at him before he continued, “I would really like to see you again.” He brushed a stray hair out of my face and let his hand linger, cupping my cheek. I leaned my head into his touch, relishing in the contact. I grinned under the intensity of his look, and glanced away to nod my head happily.

He pulled my face back up to his and pressed our lips together again. I could feel his smile against mine as we kissed gently, only making the two of us smile more.

“Hey, you missed—oh.” Bruce stopped dead in his tracks, only halfway into the room. “Oh, oh ok.” He mumbled as he backed into the party again. I giggled at the scientist’s embarrassment and buried my forehead into Chase’s chest. He laughed as he hugged me into him. I relaxed in his hold, feeling safe, feeling happy. We swayed back and forth, moving to the beat of the song leaking in from the party. I didn’t recognize it, but he seemed to, humming along to the tune as he rocked me from side to side.

His shirt was soft, I splayed my fingers out over his heart to feel the fabric shift under them. I nuzzled my cheek against him, loving the way my head rose and fell with his breath.

“So, what do you say, next Saturday? I’ll pick you up around 5 and we can catch a movie? Maybe grab some dinner?” His hand stroked over my head, making my hart flutter in a way that it hadn’t since Pietro.

“Sounds perfect to me.” I sighed against his chest. “I’ll pick the movie, you pick dinner?” I asked, raising my eyes to his.

His face lit up as he looked at me. “It’s a date.” He was about to kiss me again when—.

“Chase!” A group of young men stood in the doorway, a few of them staring at me, but many of them just making obscene kiss faces at him. “You’re our ride man! Come on, designated driver!” They laughed drunkenly as they stumbled out.

I raised my eyebrows at him. “You drive in New York City?”

He shrugged. “Only today, we rented a car so we wouldn’t have to take the subway out to Brooklyn.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “I’m judging you,” I joked.

“Oh, I can tell,” he smirked pulling me close again, his lips just brushing against mine before—.

“Ehemm.” _Damn it._ Steve walked through the doorway with Tony and Clint in tow, all of them had their arms crossed over their chests and grumpy looks on their faces.

Chase sighed and looked at me again, taking my hand in his and bringing it to his lips for a chaste kiss. “Until next time, I’ll be in the lobby at five.”

I nodded happily and watched as he walked away from me, his gait comfortable and graceful. He stopped at Tony, “Great party, Mr. Stark. Thank you for opening it up to the S.H.I.E.L.D. employees.” He nodded his gratitude, and sent one last look to me over his shoulder, grinning as he did. Then, he was through the door and out of sight, leaving me flustered and grinning like a fool in front of Captain America, Hawkeye, and Ironman.

I giggled, actually _giggled_ , and flung myself face first onto the couch. I could almost feel the looks of confusion and disapproval boring into the back of my head, but I couldn’t care less. I felt _normal_ , I felt _loved_ , and it felt _good_.

Thor was the one to bring me out of my delusional giddiness. “What’s happened to you?” he cheered, plucking my up off the couch and swinging me onto his lap. We had always had an easy relationship, he and I, whenever I got to see him at least.

I flung my arms around his neck and bounced my knees up and down in excitement. “Ok, ok.’ I tried to calm myself, but couldn’t seem to wipe the smile off my face. “Ok, alright, I’m good now. I’m good, I’m calm.” I breathed in and out dramatically, earning a laugh from the god below me, while Steve, Tony, and Clint’s eyebrows just furrowed more.

“Someone’s happy,” Nat and Bruce came in walking arm in arm, and she surveyed me with her signature sly grace. “Good New Year’s?”

“Yes,” my grin only seemed to widen. “Yes, it was.”

“I’m glad.” All of our heads whipped towards the hallway to find the source of the familiar voice. Pietro stood, leaning against the wall, his cool blue eyes digging into me like claws. There was silence across the room, I don’t think Bruce even breathed. Slowly, not taking his eyes off mine until the very last minute, Pietro turned and walked back to his room, leaving us in silence again. Suddenly my happiness was gone, swallowed by some black hole, leaving me cold and empty again. Suddenly that love I felt wasn’t love, it was a risk. A risk of another man seeing how worthless I was. A risk of failing again.

I turned from the group and walked back to my room. I was done for the night. I was done for maybe more than the night. The intensity of this double life was draining me. The judgment and the drama and the danger— I didn’t know how much longer I could handle it. I felt like this voice inside me that kept dragging me further and further into this sadness had strengthened its grip. It felt like nothing here was safe, nothing was table, or worth while.

Not even the normalcy.

The next morning Nat called to tell me that Chase’s car had crashed on it’s way out of the city, that he hadn’t survived the impact. The last thread of joy I had found snapped. I packed most of my things that day. Left some hurried notes with promises of returning. I left that afternoon, and I couldn’t find a compelling reason to go back after that. So I didn’t. Not for a while.


	21. Homecoming

I ran out of the theater, phone in hand, fingers searching wildly through the different screens until I found the Natasha’s number— at the very bottom of my recent calls. I hadn’t been back in months, I had barely even called more than a few times, insisting that I “just needed some time and space.” Well I had had my time. I had had my space. And now people could be dying because of me.

I willed her to pick up her damn phone faster as I tried to go through the logic in my mind. I had just come out of Captain America: Civil War after putting off seeing it for three weeks, dreading the news I thought it might bring. Now that my fears had been confirmed, I couldn’t believe I had been so selfish.

_Now wait,_ I thought, _there is a gap in time between my universe and theirs. Last time I got there weeks after the Age of Ultron movie came out, but I was still there right in the middle of the action._ My heartbeat began to slow a bit. _And anyway, my actions in their universe could’ve completely prevented all the shit that just went down in that theater._ My sigh of relief was cut off by another thought— _Or I could’ve sped up their series of events._

She finally picked up.“Where have you been? Is everything ok?”

“Nat, where are you right now?’

“I’m in — a meeting, a world’s nations meeting in—.” _Shit._

“Is the king of Wakanda there?” I cut her off.

“Yeah, he’s about to speak. How did you kno—.”

“Get him away from the window _now_. There’s a bomb outside.”

She hung up.

I was running from the crowded street outside the theater to my house, I needed somewhere no one would see me. Somewhere no one would see me jump back through that portal I hadn’t thought of in five months.

I pushed my way through the early summer tourists, the late May breeze pushing me along as I ran. I flew through the lobby, into the elevator, tapped my foot anxiously as I waited for the doors to open again before running out and into the safety of my home.My feet carried me to my room, until I found the delicate gold necklace I had hung on the display next to my bed among the other treasures I had accumulated over my lifetime. I clasped the chain deftly around my neck, the lightweight charm baring my fingerprint hanging just below my collarbone. I took a deep breath before calling out to my mother.

“Hey, Mom? Mom, I’m going back, ok? I’ve gotta help them…” I felt like I should go to her, but my feet were glued to the hardwood, and my eyes trapped in the glint of my necklace.

She came to me, creeping through the hall soundlessly on toes made of glass, as if she would shatter if she stepped too suddenly. She leaned against my open door frame. “You’re sure?”

I nodded, my eyes still fixed on the charm around my neck, refusing to look at her. She came to me again, putting both her hands on my head and pressing a firm kiss to my fore head before pulling me into her arms.

“Be safe,” she whispered.

I nodded again, squeezing her hard before letting go and walking to the sparse space of wall that I had saved expressly for this in the past. I pressed the pad of my thumb to the front of the charm and watched as the portal spun to life in front of me, the familiar purple bathing the room in light. I glanced back and smiled at my mother who was watching nervously from a distance. I knew she didn’t want me to go— but she also knew I had to. She nodded at me to step through, and, trying to clear my mind of the ‘what if’’s that could face me on the other side of it, I did.

I stepped through the portal in the lab at the base, startling two scientists working in the corner. I gave them an awkward smile as I made my way towards the bridge connecting to the housing unit. On my way, I dialed Nat again, and this time she answered with out delay.

“He’s alright,” she answered without my asking, “King T’Chaka. He’s in intensive care now, he might not be able to walk again due to spinal damage, but he’s alive.”

“Good, not great, but better. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you more warning.”

“Yeah, I’m guessing you just saw a movie about us, huh. ‘Bout time you got back. Any other deaths we should know about?”

I scoffed, “I’ll try to keep you in the loop from now on alright? But do you have eyes on the King’s son? T’challa?”

“Uh—,” I could hear the sirens and yelling behind her silence and I winced. If I had been faster, maybe I could’ve stopped the bomb from going off in the first place. “Yeah he’s here, he’s here. I’m giving him the phone.”

I waited for a moment until I heard his gravely, grief stricken voice.

“Hello?”

“Your majesty, I’m so sorry about your father,” I made my way through the doors to the housing unit and glanced around for any familiar faces before heading up to my room. “I hope his recovery is swift.”

“…Thank you.”

“And I know— ok this is going to sound strange, and I know you don’t know me, but— ok so the man responsible for hurting your father is not James Buchanan Barns. He’s being framed, really I swear.”

“You’re that girl aren’t you? The one from the other world?” I could tell I had piqued his curiosity.

“Yes, yes I am. And I’m trying to save lives here, so—.”

“Then why didn’t you save my father? They say he will not be able to walk again. Why didn’t you save those people that the witch killed?” The venom in his voice was clear through the phone. “They say you know the future, then why do you wait while we die?”

The call died.

I was stuck to my spot again, phone still glued to my ear as if he would come back and forgive me, but I knew he was right. I could’ve prevented this, I could’ve saved people. I could’ve stopped this.

My breath was coming in short gasps. I sat on the edge of my bed, my phone clattering from my hand to the ground as I clutched at my chest. I felt like I was about to implode. I covered my ragged breaths with my palm as I willed myself to calm. I had to keep going. I had to figure out what to do. I stumbled off my bed and gathered myself, picking up my phone and searched for the uniform Tony had designed for me. When I had left they had still been working out some design flaws, but now it hung securely in my closet, with the whip and headset on the shelf above.

The catsuit stretched comfortably over my curves, and I let out a sigh of relief. Once I made sure it fit, I slipped it off again and packed it with my whip and head gear into a small duffle bag. After changing back into my street clothes and tucking my phone into my back pocket, I left my room, intending to head down to the launch pad and get it to send me straight to Steve, but as I left, I heard noises from the living room. I ran downstairs towards them only to find Clint and Wanda standing over a massive hole in the floor. They both looked at me as I appeared over the railing.

_Ah._

“Vision’s down there right?”

They nodded.

“Yeah, I remember that part. Damn you guys are moving faster than I thought, your timeline is different than the one I know.”

“They made a movie about this too?” Clint asked, taking Wanda’s hand and leading her upstairs to me.

“Yep.”

“So then we all know what’s happening next?”

We all exchanged looks of understanding before running to the launch pad.

———————————————————————————————————————

“Hey.” Wanda’s voice was soft as she settled next to me on the jet. I glanced over at her, offering a small smile. Clint was steering the jet towards a rendezvous point to pick up a “new member of the team,” after I told him about Scott the ‘Ant Man’ that Sam would be calling him about in about a day. Figured it might be nice to have a jump on the enemy. _No,_ I corrected myself, _not ‘enemy’, just… Tony._

“I know what’s been going on with you,” I started. “ After everything that happened… Vision… I’m sorry you’re going through that.”

She pursed her lips.

“And I’m sorry I left.” That was really what I had wanted to say, the only thing I could think of to say, the only thing running through my head. She nodded her understanding sympathetically.

“Why did you?” she shot out innocently, fixed me with a sad stare. 

I shrugged, “Why don’t you just take a peak in my head?” I teased.

“You know I don’t do that,” she replied, raising an eyebrow at me. I half laughed before realizing it was my turn to speak.

“I—,” I wanted to tell her something, find some way to answer her question. “I felt strange here, after everything that happened. It was like there was something going on in my head. Every good thought was followed by a bad one, a worry, a doubt. I couldn’t do it anymore, I just needed a break.” I looked at her, her eyes open and forgiving, if a little sad.

“And the man you met? New Years?” she prodded gently.

I looked away, “Yeah. Yeah that didn’t help.” I felt my throat tighten. “It’s weird, I only knew him for a matter of hours. And I know— I know I was sad when I heard what had happened, but I thought It would get better.” I looked at her, “It got worse. It wasn’t just the good thoughts that brought the bad ones, any bad thought brought a worse one.His death only got worse for me. Until I left.” I glanced down at my lap, “That’s when I started to get better.”

I didn’t look at her when she grabbed my hand, or when she gave it a reassuring squeeze. I only looked at her when she had fallen asleep. And she still hadn’t let go.

“Hey, kid,” Clint slid into the seat next to me, regarding the sleeping Wanda with a nod and a sigh.

“Did you hear all of that?” I asked.

“Yeah. Not that I needed to.” I looked at him, perplexed. He only shrugged, “I figured as much from the way you were acting. I got the gist that you needed some time to yourself. Anything more than that wasn’t my business.”

I nodded, thankful for his understanding, and laid my head on his shoulder. His pressed his lips to my hair and wrapped an arm around me.

“We care about you, ya’know? It’s the biggest disadvantage to being the youngest of the team; we’re all gonna worry about you when you’re not ok.” I returned his smile and nudged his shoulder with mine, earning a small chuckle followed by an exasperated sigh. “I suppose you know what’s going on with the team now?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty well caught up. In fact, right now Steve, Wilson, Bucky, and T’Challa are about to be in holding in Berlin. But by the time we get to them, Steve and friends be preparing for a fight against Tony and the rest of them, at an airport.” I paused, thinking, “Do you know where Pietro and Banner are in all of this? In my universe they’re dead or MIA so I can’t really tell how they’ll influence things.”

Clint leaned back, rubbing his eyes. “Well, they’ve both actually been staying at the tower, and as far as I can tell, Pietro’s with Tony, what with the whole ‘the Avenger’s lack of accountability literally destroyed his hometown’ thing.”

My shoulders slumped, _there’s no way we can take on all of Tony’s team_.

“But Bruce chose to stay neutral,” he glanced at me with a small smile, “always ready to avoid conflict…”

My confidence built again and I nodded. _Just Pietro then, he’s the only extra_. “Besides,” Clint continued, “Banner would never get into a real fight against the rest of the team, given his condition so he would’ve opted for sitting this one out anyway.”

“Thank you, Clint.”

He got up and ruffled my hair, “Anytime. Now do yourself a favor and get some rest. If this battle’s gonna happen like you say—you’re gonna need it.”

I closed my eyes and began to drift to sleep.

_Oh shit!_

I leapt out of my seat, startling Wanda beside me and even getting Clint’s attention at the controls. I flung my phone out of my pocket and shuffled furiously until I found her number.

‘What is it?” Wanda asked from beside me, but I was too focused to hear her, or even care about the question.

She picked up after the first ring. “More info?”

“Nat, the psych. eval. that Bucky’s going in to now? That’s not a real doctor, _don’t let him in the room_. He’s going to trigger Bucky into becoming the Winter Soldier.”

“Got it.” She hung up and rushed off, presumably— _hopefully—_ to keep what I had warned her about from happening.

I could only hope I had warned her in time.

I found out about seven minutes later, when my phone rang, Tony’s name flashing across the screen. I took a deep breath before answering.

“Where the hell have you been?”

“Tony I’m sorry I just—.”

“No, no it doesn’t matter. Just go back there. You can’t be in the middle of this after everything you’ve missed. You’re out, so get out.”

My heart broke. “Tony, you know I can’t do that. I can help, I know things that—.”

“No, no you can’t. I heard about that tip you gave Nat. Complete bull. The guy’s been vetted by several different sources and a few of the professionals here even testified to his— and I’m quoting here “gentle, yet effective nature.”

My stomach sank, _how could it be wrong?_

“Look, sweetheart,” he started in a much gentler tone, “I know you want to help, but this is out of any of our hands. We’ve got Steve and Sam here, and either they sign or they go to prison. I’m doing whatever I can, but it’s time for you to go home.”

He hung up before I could get a word in. I tried calling him back but it only went to voicemail. Same with Natasha, and I knew it was no good calling Steve or Sam as their phones had no doubt been confiscated along with their suits.

_Could I be wrong? Is this really going to be that different than the story I know?_ I sat with my head in my hands, rocking back and forth against the side of the jet, Wanda’s hand on my back to comfort me. She must’ve put me to sleep a few hours later, filling my dreams with the happiest of memories, unclouded by the bad thoughts that plagued my on this side of the portal.

———————————————————————————————————————

Clint got the call about an hour later, from some payphone on the outskirts of Berlin. It was Sam, asking for backup. Apparently, everything I had thought was right, except the nut job who was hell bent on destroying the Avengers infiltrated the base as a janitor instead of a doctor. Perfect. One little deviation and the whole thing still ends up going to shit. I could only hope that this didn’t turn into a pattern.


	22. Fight At the Airport

We landed early, and all we could do was sit and wait for Steve, Sam, and Bucky to meet us at the airport. I wondered what this shift in timing could do for us, what it could mean for the team and the final outcome of the fight. Most of the time was spent sleeping in the back of the white van that Clint had found abandoned in a parking lot and hot wired. But whatever time wasn’t spent sleeping was spent strategizing, learning the high ground, exploring the advantages of the terrain, and even just getting to know Scott and how we could work with his powers. It seemed like hardly anytime had passed before the retro blue buggie came baring Steve, Sam, and Bucky.

The team leader clasped Clint’s hand firmly as he thanked the smaller man for supporting him, and then thanked Wanda as well. I walked around the van, to peak at the blond super soldier and the mysterious friend whose life I probably knew more about than he himself.

“And how’s our new recruit?” Steve asked, clearly referring to the Ant Man who was taking his turn napping in the back of the van.

“Well, we’ve got this jackass,” Clint announced, sliding the van door open with a slam, stirring Scott to wakefulness, “but we’ve also got an old friend.” He looked around for me and I got a sudden urge to just open up another portal and go home. “Come on, come out.” I could almost hear his eyes roll.

I sighed and side stepped the vehicle, presenting myself by flinging my arms out and letting them fall back to slap against my thighs defeatedly. Sam’s face stretched into a cockeyed grin and he strode over to embrace me, lighting me off the ground and giving me a clear look at Steve’s dumbstruck face. Sam set me down again and I smiled at him warmly. He looked like he was about to say something before Steve’s hand came up on his shoulder, distracting him and prompting him to move aside. That same hand came down to lift my chin until my eyes were forced to Steve’s; only then did he lift me into his arms as Sam had, burying his face in my neck.

“Where the hell have you been?” his voice was gruff and disgruntled as he set me down. “You stopped coming, you stopped calling. One time I even jumped into your universe just to make sure you were still alive.”

I laughed, “So you admit to spying on me?”

“So you admit to ignoring us?” He countered with a raised eyebrow that split the difference between pissed, sad, and joking all at the same time.

“Tell you what,” I started, “we’ll call it even if you just tell me one thing…” We leaned in close, close enough for him to feel my breath on the shell of his ear as I whispered into it. “Please just tell me that you didn’t actually kiss Sharon.”

He groaned and pulled away, “Do they have to included everything in those damn movies of yours?”

I felt my heart break a bit through my smile, “Those damn movies are the reason I’m here in the first place, and they’re the reason things are going to go so much better today than they did in my universe.”

“Don’t worry, we’re all up to date on the psych assassins,” Sam interjected.

“Oh right! You still think you’re up against the rest of the Winter Soldiers, huh, yeah, no.”

They looked at each other in dismay, none so bothered by this new information than Bucky.

“Don’t worry, I’ll explain. Now shut up, sit down, and listen cause it’s story time.”

It didn’t take long to explain about the plot against them, and how the whole plan was set up to split the team up and not actually release these crazy super assassins, and once we were on the same page and had discussed possible strategies for the upcoming conflict, we all went our separate ways to prep on our own. Most just chose to talk some more, try to clear their heads, but some people had other rituals they needed to go through.

“Hey,” I walked up to Bucky as he stood at the railing overlooking the airstrip. He didn’t look at me as I approached. “How are you?”

“Not too pleased about loosing an arm in the near future,” he replied, referring to what I had told them about the ending of the film. “Even if it is the metal one.”

I laughed, “Well maybe now that you know you can prevent it. It’s worth a shot at least.”

There was a small silence before he spoke again. “So you know things? Things about us?”

I nodded. He pursed his lips in return. “I can tell you some stuff you might’ve forgotten.” I leaned against the railing, facing him. “I might even be able to show you, some clips at least.” His attention peaked at that, he even angled his face toward me, even if his eyes still didn’t meet mine. “I try to refrain from bringing in any information from my universe just incase it falls into the wrong hands, but I’m sure a few scenes of the old you couldn’t hurt.” He nodded and looked back off into the space in front of him. I put my hand on his shoulder, the flesh one which was closest to me. He had his metal fingers wrapped around my wrist before I could think and for the first time his eyes locked on mine.

All movement of the team behind us had stopped, and I could see them all ready to spring into action in my peripheral vision, proving that they had been watching our talk this whole time. I lifted my free hand to keep them from approaching. I watched as Bucky’s eyes melted into mine, and I raised my brows expectantly. He slowly lessened the tension around my wrist until his metal hand was just resting over mine.

“Thank you.” It was simple, but it was all he needed to say.

I nodded and pulled away, letting my hand linger on his arm as I went. He had turned back to the railing as the tension dissolved around us. The rest of the team, however, stared at me in awe as I walked through them. Steve’s hand gripped at my arm as I passed him and his eyes were full and thankful and glinting with another something that I couldn’t place. I smiled at him and nodded before dismissing myself to change into my uniform and try to think of a way to un-fuck the whole situation.

———————————————————————————————————————

We knew they were coming when the airport announced an evacuation. Steve decided he should meet Tony alone, to try to convince him to compromise, to put all this stuff behind the team and help us go after the one who was trying to frame Bucky. We watched from the roof of a nearby building as Tony and Rhodey met him on a helipad, my hand gripping at the gold whip coiled around my waist. Clint’s hand on my shoulder calmed my nerves.

“It’s just us, this whole problem is just _us_ ,” I told him again, just as I had to the whole group before. “There are no Winter Soldiers, no master assassins. It’s just us, and the man trying to tear us apart.” I looked back out at Steve and the others as they argued, shaking my head. “Steve is asking to much. And Tony is giving too little. We do need the accords but not at the sacrifice of our teammates and their past mistakes. And certainly not if it means that we let the pressure of the world keep us from following due course and hearing Bucky’s damn case.” I felt the super soldier stiffen on my other side. I looked over at him and grabbed his hand. He didn’t look at me, he didn’t even hold mine in response, just let his fingers hang there next the mine. He didn’t pull away— so I guess that’s a step up, but I let go quickly nonetheless.

“I should go out there,” I spoke up once T’Challa joined Tony on the pad, “I could try and mediate, see if I could make them see reason.” I looked to Clint for confirmation and he nodded. I ran down the stairs and emerged out the bottom of the building to stand by Steve’s side, much to the chagrin of Tony and his team.

“I’m sorry, Rhodey, do you recognize this person?” Tony started, pointing at me.

I rolled my eyes, “Tony, I’m sorry, I needed time, I wasn’t well—.”

“I know, and I was glad you were out of danger, which is where you should be now. Where you would be now if Steve hadn’t dragged you back into this.” He looked like he wanted to yell, but couldn’t bring himself to.

“Stop it, you know I can handle myself in a fight. Steve didn’t even know I was here until today. I’m just here to help. Look, it’s complicated, but right now we all just have to calm down. This isn’t about anyone but us, and if we stay together, we can take down the real threat.”

“The threat is the man who tried to kill my father,” T’Challa strode towards me. “The one your people are harboring.” Steve stepped in front of me protectively, but I brushed him off.

“I told you before, that wasn’t Bucky. And the asshole that framed him has no chance against us if we can just stop fighting. His power comes from our weakness.”

“Wow, great speech,” Rhodey replied sarcastically.

“I thought it was,” Steve chimed in. “And she’s completely right.”

“The evidence is against him. The world is against him.” T’Challa stalked forward, “And now you are protecting a man who has killed thousands. And even if he failed to kill my father, a threat against my king is a threat against my country, and I cannot let that stand.” He came to stand right in front of me, and felt Steve step reflexively beside me, his arm brushing my shoulder in a gesture of protection.

I tried to stay calm as I stared into the Black Panther’s masked eyes. “He was under control then, he didn’t have a choice. He’s been free of his handlers for years now, trying to live undercover, trying to live a peaceful life. What he did is not his fault.”

“And we are going to protect him,” Steve added, “until we know that the rest of the world can see that. We’ll protect him however we can.”

“Guys,” Nat voice sounded from behind us, “you know what’s about to happen, do you really want to punch your way out of this one?”

Our silence was enough of an answer.

“Alright, I’ve run out of patience,” Tony threw his hands up, “Underoos!”

“Shit,” I mumbled under my breath.

Just then a web wrapped itself around the Captain’s wrists while a second strandattached itself to Steve’s iconic shield and ripped it from his hands. It went flying across the pad and into the waiting hands of Spiderman.

“You’ve been busy,” Steve grumbled beside me.

I turned to glare at Iron Man. “Goddamn it, Tony. He hasn’t even graduated yet!”

“Wait, Mr. Stark, how does she know that?”

Tony ignored his question, replying to me instead. “You were the same age when you helped us with Ultron.”

“Exactly. _Ultron_. The demon-bot trying to kill everybody which required the attention of everyone available. _Not_ a squabble between friends! Come on, your pulling him into this for no reason.”

“Ok, you’re just pissed about not being the youngest on the team anymore. And if you think that this is just a, what did you call it, a ‘squabble between friends,’ then you have no right being here in the first place!” He was screaming now, all inhibitions overcome by his frustration. “Why don’t you just go home and bury your head in the sand again!”

“Tony—,” Nat warned.

“No.” I cut her off, “No, he’s right. I shouldn’t’ve run from this. And this is a big decision; the accords are important. And as much as Steve hates to admit it,” I threw a glare at his down turned face, “necessary.”

Surprise struck Tony’s face, “Oh so, you’re agreeing with me. Well that’s refreshing. So why don’t you bring that mass murderer out here, and we’ll call it a day?”

Steve tensed beside me. “Not gonna happen, Tony.”

“Tony, you’re right in so many ways, but the accords don’t mean condemning an innocent man to a life in a mental asylum.”

“We were thinking prison actually.”

“Not helping, Rhodey,” Nat warned again, this time stricter. But there was nothing she could say to stop Tony.

“God, you’re an idiot,” Tony seethed, glaring daggers at Steve. “Dragging in Clint, rescuing Wanda from a place she doesn’t even want to leave, a safe place. I’m trying to keep—,” his voice faltered, and when he spoke again, he was nearly trembling with rage. “I’m trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart.”

“You did that when you signed,” Steve answered. “And Wanda? Clint? They saw the news. They chose to come and help on their own.”

Tony’s face turned cold and he let out a sad laugh. “Alright, I’m done. You’re gonna turn Banes over, and you’re gonna come with us now, ‘cause it’s _us_ or a squad of guys who have no compunction about being impolite.”

“Tony, you can’t make us do anything.” Steve stood his ground, “If you can’t compromise, fine. But we’ve got to go after the psycho that’s doing all of this, and if you won’t be a part of the team, then we’ll do it ourselves.”

We both turned to leave.

“And how are you going to go after him? In the Quinjet? The one cloaked behind the fence of the airport.” Steve an I exchanged a look at Tony’s words, right before an explosion went off behind us… right where we had let the jet.

“Shit,” we said simultaneously.

“Ok, plan B.” Steve queued the team, raising his still bound hands as one of Hawkeye’s arrows tore through them. At the same time, Scott sprung into action, growing from his hiding spot behind Spiderman, grabbing Steve’s shield from his hands and flipping the high schooler over his shoulder as he jumped to Steve’s side, finally landing with ease and handing the shield back to its rightful owner.

“Steve, I found the jet they used to get here,” Sam’s voice sounded through our head piece’s and I looked to see his mechanical side kick, Red Wing, zooming over head. “Hangar five, north runway. If we can get there first, it’s ours.”

Now it was a fight.

Tony took off to face off with Wanda and Hawkeye in the far parking lot while T’Challa tried to go after Sam and Bucky in the terminal, only to be body slammed by Cap on his way. Instead, the far less threatening Spiderman went after them, leaving Scott to face down Natasha and Rhodey to try and help Black Panther however he can. I looked around, almost in a daze. I knew how this fight went. I knew who won and who lost and how, except— _Pietro_. I had no idea where he was or if he was even here. I could try to find him, but it could just turn into a wild goose chase. Besides, seeing as he, Vision, and I were the only ones unoccupied in a fight, we would probably be running into each other anyway, probably at the one place everyone was trying to go.

I ran for the Quinjet.

I could hear the bangs and clashes of all the fights around me, as one by one our team took on Tony’s. I was the only one no one would fight, I was the moderator, the reasonable one. For now at least. I’m sure once things get down to it, I’ll be fighting with the rest of them.

A sudden pain struck me in the stomach. _I guess it starts now._

I hit the ground hard, all the wind knocked out of me, and I found myself looking up at bright blue eyes and white blond hair.

He smirked at me, “Ah Printessa, it’s been quite a long time since I looked down on you like this, no?” He gave me a hand up and wrapped his free arm around me waist, holding me close to him. “Just like old times.”

I worked my hand towards the side of my waist, to the handle of my whip and shocked the chain, sending a current up Pietro’s arm while I was protected by the fabric of the suit. He collapsed on the ground, still shaking with the aftershocks.

I ran for the jet again, it was just in sight when I was grabbed from behind and thrown to the ground again. I groaned in protest as Pietro trotted around me. This time, thankfully silent. I shuffled back on my ass, steadying my spinning head before pressing the release button on my whip and letting it uncoil beside me. I stood on shaky legs as Pietro readied himself.

I threw the first blow, striking my whip out, bursting with unbridled electricity. He was gone before it reached where he was standing, behind me again, wrapping his arms around me. I touched his bare hand with one of mine and sent another current through him, flinging him off me once more. I started to run again, but in an instant he was in front of me, seething and waiting for my next move.

I knew I could never hit him, not with his speed. I couldn’t even use my telekinesis to lift him off the ground since he would move whenever I tried to pin down his position. And he couldn’t touch me with out getting shocked. It was like we were at some sort of stalemate, staring each other down and waiting for the other to make a fatal mistake.

He did.

He glanced over my shoulder for an instant, but it was all I needed. I struck my whip out and wrapped it around his ankles before sending a current through it that was stronger than anything else I had given him before. He writhed for a moment on the ground before passing out. I unwrapped my whip from his legs, and held a hand in front of his mouth to make sure he was still breathing. He was.

I heard footsteps behind me and looked to see that what had distracted Pietro was the coming of my team as they ran towards the jet. I saw Wanda’s face fall when she saw her brother laying on the ground.

“Don’t worry,” I yelled to her as I fell into step with them, “he’s fine!”

She nodded and sped up, leaving me next to Sam, who took one look at my floored ex and grinned like a complete idiot. I smiled back, embarrassed.

We kept running, I thought we might actually make it. But before we could reach the hanger, Tony’s team ran in front of us, blocking us from the door.

“Damn,” I mumbled, “I guess this is happening.” I looked around my team, “Alright, here we go.”

We charged them and they charged us. And no one stopped.

———————————————————————————————————————

It’s funny, how shameful it is to watch something you know is going to happen happen no matter how you try to stop it. Here I was to stop the fight, and the fight had happened. I got to watch it all again, but this time on the field instead to the big screen. I watched as friends fought friends, Brooklyn fought Queens. I watched Vision try to bring a tower down on his former teammates heads. I watched as Steve and Bucky flew off in a Quinjet on our command as we stayed behind to be captured.

But the one thing I wouldn't watch was Rhodey. I knew I couldn’t watch as Rhodey plummeted to the ground, resulting in an injury that would mean the loss of the use of his legs. I made protecting him my goal. Maybe I couldn’t stop the whole thing, but if I could make the outcome just a little better— it would all be worth it.

So as the jet took flight, and Sam trailed behind it followed closely by Rhodey, I flew into the air myself, before they could get too high. I saw it all in my head: I wrapped my arms around Rhodey and pulling him out of Vision’s line of fire before shocking him, undoubtably knocking him unconscious, and making him fall to the ground as I controlled his fall with my powers. But there was something I hadn’t seen, something that I could have never known from any film, something I didn’t expect. When I reached him, he turned to me in the air, his hand coming to rest on my chest as mine laid on his shoulders. Simultaneously, we blasted each other. We fell to the ground tangled in each others limbs, completely unconscious, and I wondered if I had done more harm than good.


	23. Fallout

I woke up strapped to a metal bed in a cell. I knew exactly where I was: the Raft. The super prison. The super scary bad guy prison. The super scary bad guy floating prison in the middle of the fucking ocean. Yeah, that prison.

I let out a deep sigh before realizing that the simple action made my body feel like it was on fire. My head swam and in an instant I was out again.

The next time I woke it was from a voice, a familiar voice. Tony’s.

“I need to know where Steve went,” it said.

“I’m not telling you shit. We know what happens next, I’m not letting you—.”

I found my voice through the fire that seemed to burn in my throat. “Tell him, Sam.” There was a rustling from the cells around me, as well as Tony, presumably, even though I couldn’t see anything but the ceiling due to my inability to turn me head. “Tell him or I will.”

“I’m so sor—.”

“We don’t have time for that right now Tony,” I dismissed him, “Sam, _tell him_.”

“You told me what would happen if he went. You _told_ me what he does.”

“Yes, I did. And it would’ve been nice to avoid it, but that didn’t work,” I hissed through my teeth, the effort of arguing wearing me down by the second. “So now, if we want anything to work out, we need to let him go and let whatever happens happen. Otherwise we’re all fucked.”

There was silence.

“ _Sam, tell him now.”_

He caved, “He’s at a base in Slovenia, an old hydra outpost. It shouldn’t be hard to find.”

I heard Tony’s footsteps leaving the room that joined our cells.

“Tony!” I called out to him before he could go.

The steps stopped.

“Remember that Barns wasn’t in control of himself. Remember that he is a different man than the one they made him. You know he was framed now.” I summoned the rest of my energy to slowly turn my head towards the bar-lined glass front of my cell, letting my eyes meet Tony’s. “Try to forgive him.”

The older man nodded and turned to leave again, before stopping one more time and walking back to my cell. He opened the small hatch at the bottom of my door that I assume was meant for food trays and slipped an envelope though, managing to tuck it underneath the pealing plastic flooring as he did.

“A letter,” he told me, “From Bruce. Figured I might as well give it to you while their cameras are still out.” He glanced around the room at all the surveillance equipment, looked at me one more time, an apology in his eyes, and left us alone.

There was another long uncomfortable silence as we all watched the door Tony had left through for something we couldn’t name.

“Why?” Sam asked. “Why tell him?”

I took a deep breath, fighting the pain it caused. “Because if he doesn’t go, T’Challa doesn’t go. And if T’Challa doesn’t go, we don’t get out.”

“Quiet, guys,” Clint groaned, “I really don’t wanna get my ass beat because the guards heard a suspicious conversation.”

We all agreed silently, but I continued quietly, “And Sam?”

“Yeah?”

“Tony deserves to know. He’s waited long enough.”

After that everyone was quiet for a long time. I fell back asleep.

———————————————————————————————————————

“Oh God. What happened to you?” The words were mumbled and full of sorrow. The voice was familiar, but I couldn’t bring myself to wake enough to place it. I felt a warm hand working the non-conductive restraints off my wrists. I stirred a bit in my sleep as those same hands slipped under my knees and shoulders, gently lifting me off the stiff medical table. “Sh sh sh,” the voice hushed me. “You’ll be happier if you just stay asleep.”

“Hey, Steve,” another voice sounded, “Hold on.” I heard someone else step into my cell.

“What’s that?” Steve asked.

“Tony left it for her when he came asking where you and Bucky were. Said it was from Bruce.” They must’ve grabbed the letter tucked under the floor, again I almost woke fully, this time out of curiosity, but my head had already begun to throb with the little movement of being carried and the added brain activity. I let myself drift further from action as I rested my head on Steve’s strong shoulder as his quick steps rocked me back and forth. The next few minutes were mostly quiet, although occasionally I would hear the voice of the super soldier telling people where to go, and a few other voices, such as Sam Wilson’s who I figured had been speaking earlier, muttering small phrases about hurrying up, or “the guards are gonna wake up soon.”

The next thing I noticed was being set down on a much more comfortable bed than I had been on before, and this time without restraints. A large hand cradled the back of my head and delicately placed a pillow under it before tucking a hair behind my ear and leaving to talk to someone else. I was aware we must’ve been in a far smaller space as the multitude of voices around me reverberated through the walls, but quieted before the room began to vibrate. My brow furrowed in discomfort as the subtle movement jostled my aching head and chest.

“Hey,” I heard someone ask, “can you help her sleep?” I didn’t know who it was or who they were talking to, but I knew the question referred to me, and I was grateful to the both of them as I drifted off into a deep sleep watching red swirls on the insides of my eyelids.

———————————————————————————————————————

My eyelids fluttered open, and were met with a bright yellow light. I turned my head to see the sun streaming in an open window, it’s beams speckled by the shadows of thick jungle leaves and accented by whistling birdsongs.

“I was always told it was best to leave a window open for the sick,” a voice sounded on my other side and I turned my head, as quickly as I could without the risk of further injury, to see them. “I hope the fresh air has made you feel better.”

My eyes narrowed at the visitor, then widened in shock. I scrambled to sit myself high on the bed, but he reached over from his wheelchair to place a gentle hand on my shoulder, settling me back into the soft white sheets. “Y-Y-Your majesty, I—.”

“Hush now,” King T’Chaka’s eyes smiled, and his mouth turned down in a teasing frown. “You mustn’t stress yourself after we have put so much effort into making you safe. My doctors told me that you arrived here with _quite_ the concussion as well as a few broken ribs, and a broken clavicle.” I settled back into bed as he read me the list of my injuries. He laughed softly at my reaction, “Now you see why I don’t want you to move, yes?” I nodded dumbly at the king, my eyes downcast, gaze fixed on the edge of the blanket as I twiddled it between my fingers. “Do not fret,” the Wakandan king comforted, leaning forward in his chair to place one of his large hands on mine, “you are in good hands here. We will make you well.”I nodded again.

He sighed and leaned back again, “Now, I wanted to be here when you woke because I have some very important matters to discuss with you.” My head snapped up at this, and my eyes met his again, slightly worried at what might come next. “You are the girl from another universe, yes?”

I nodded.

“One where we are all just characters? Just pretend?”

I nodded again.

“One where my country doesn’t exist?”

My gaze dropped to my lap as I nodded yet again. I heard him sigh from his seat. “So you knew all this was going to happen.” It was not a question this time, but I nodded anyway to confirm what he already knew. “And you came here to prevent it.”

“But I didn’t.” I let a silence wash over the both of us, still refusing to look at him, but feeling the tears prick at my eyes as my failure forced itself down my throat.

“You did not change anything? Not one thing?” he asked me, prying.

I shook my head. “I didn’t do enough. I could’ve helped more, I was just— running from it all. I didn’t want to have to face it— this.” I was crying now, hot tears running down my face and my ribs aching as my chest swelled with each gasped breath.

T’Chaka nodded, his lips pursed and his eyes thoughtful. It was a long moment before he spoke. “You know this now. It is a lesson most learn much later in life, and it is a hard one to accept with grace. I am sorry you must feel the weight of it now, but I am proud that you have learned it, so you may not have to learn it again.”

I looked at him, my tears blurring my vision. I could see his soft smile as he reached forward to wipe the water from my cheeks. “There, there my dear. You are strong. You will come out of this.”

I blushed and turned away. “I’m so sorry, your majesty. This is entirely inappropriate, I should—.”

“Nonsense,” his voice was strict and absolute. I met his eyes again.

“You don’t understand. Your majesty,” I stammered, trying to get the words out, “I’m the reason you’re in a wheelchair.”

T’Chaka’s brows shot up in surprise, his eyes narrowed, and he shifted forward until his face was closed to mine. “Did you set off that bomb?”

“No, but—.”

“Then I do not see how it is your fault.” His kind smile returned, “You must not carry such a weight when it is not yours to bear.”

“But if I could’ve warned Nat faster then she—.”

“May I ask you,” he paused, waiting for me to swallow the rest of my unfinished excuse, “what exactly happened to me in your world?” His eyes narrowed and he leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest as he surveyed me. “If you were so quick to warn your friend to protect me, something must’ve happened to me in your film, yes?”

I nodded.

He waited for my answer.

“You died.”

At this his face softened in sadness, and then his face shifted into one of pity. “Oh my dear girl,” he started, “you have been punishing yourself for saving me.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, “No, no I was wrong and stupid and if I could’ve—.”

“No.” He used his king voice again, shutting down my argument. “No, you are not allowed to say such things.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Why did you say nothing of this before?”

“…It felt like an excuse,” I explained, “a way to get away from the guilt of not doing more.”

His hand came to the side of my face, pulling my eyes towards his, both pairs on the brink of tears. “You have saved me. And I am in your debt.”

I shook my head, “No, no your majesty please—.”

“Please,” he repeated my pleading word, a smile spreading across his face, “T’Chaka.” He took his hand away, placing it in his lap, “You were my guest, now you are my honored savior. It is an insult to me to have you rely on such formalities.” He knocked on the wall and a beautiful woman with a shaved head stepped through the door. He turned back to me, “I shall be back to visit you again, but for now you must rest. I’ve tired you too much already.” The woman stepped behind his chair and began to wheel him out of the room, but he stopped her suddenly with a raised hand and turned back to look at me. “I have quite enjoyed your company, you are a miraculous girl. I am honored to have you in my home.”

I managed a soft smile, finally managing to swallow some of my lingering shame, “It is an honor to be your guest, your majesty.” I bowed my head slightly, and looked up to see him meeting me with a playful glare. I grinned before correcting myself.

“ _T’Chaka_.”

He chuckled lightly at my reply and nodded at his guard to wheel him out.

I didn’t sleep again, but rested my head contentedly on the fluffy pillows as I gazed out the open window at the wilderness beyond my room. I smiled at the strong scented flowers and the sweet singing birds outside, far better entertainment than any show I’ve ever watched. I smiled meekly at a doctor who came in to check my vitals and ask me about how I was feeling. I answered all her questions quietly and efficiently, a bit calmed by her graceful nature. She told me that I had been sleeping for almost 24 hours since I had arrived, but should still be doing my best to stay still and keep my mind quiet.

“Hey—oh.” Steve and Sam were halfway through the door when they saw the doctor clearing her supplies off the medical table beside my hospital bed. The doctor smiled at the two men as they shuffled awkwardly in the doorway.

“It is alright,” she laughed, “I was just going anyway. You may see her now.” Her eyes were locked on Wilson as she spoke, distracting him for a moment, but after a nudge from Steve, he stopped staring and walked slowly towards me. The doctor passed him as she left and her hand gripped his arm tightly, stopping him in his tracks. “Do not excite her,” she warned, “she needs rest.” Sam nodded and she released him, letting him come to sit next to the captain by my bed. She stopped again in my doorway, looking back at me this time. “Please do not hesitate to ask for me if you are in need miss,” her heavily accented voice singing through the room. Her eyes shifted ever so subtly to Sam for a moment as she spoke again, “My name is Anola.” She turned and left.

Steve and I both looked at Sam with raised brows as he gazed after the beautiful doctor fleeing the room. He eventually looked back to us, and was startled to find us staring at him and fighting laughs. He looked between us, confused, and we just shrugged him off with a laugh looking at each other instead. I watched Steve’s eyes turn sad as they drifted from mine to the bruising where my face had met the ground. I looked away from him.

“I’m so sorry you got hurt.” His voice was firm and each word dragged through his lips.

I shook my head, “Steve, it wasn’t your fault, it was my choice.” He nodded, his brows furrowed and his gaze on his hands as they lay clasped together on my bed. A thought struck me: “Steve, do you know if Rhodey is alright? I didn’t get a chance to ask Tony before, I—.”

“He’s fine, don’t worry,” he assured me. He leaned back, rubbing his face, “From what I’ve seen on the news he sustained injuries like yours, but worse. He can still walk; I know you were worried about that, but he won’t be in active duty anymore. Not with the concussion he suffered.” I looked away, ashamed, but Sam put a hand under my jaw and turned my face back to his.

“Hey, hey, hey,” he comforted, “Rhodey knows what you did for him, we explained when we wrote to Tony, so from what I can see, he should be grateful.”

I frowned at the two men, their pity evident in their eyes. “I don’t understand everyone. They’re all telling me that these things aren’t my fault,” I looked out the window, unable to meet their intense gaze, “but they are. If I had just been faster, maybe I could’ve kept all of this from happening. And now I’m here and I did what I could and I accomplished _nothing_.”

“You saved my father.”

All three of us turned to see T’Challa standing square in the doorway.

“I’m sure that counts as— how did you say— accomplishing something?”

I quickly looked away, knowing if the man’s distaste for me. He was, after all, the one who had told me of my incompetence at the beginning of all this.

“Your highness,” Steve greeted him as he started to stand in respect, although Sam remained seated, frowning. He waved a hand at them, signaling for the captain to sit again, but his eyes stayed on me. He crossed to the far side of my bed and sat in a chair beside me.

“My father,” he began, “spent much of the past week asleep, as the best doctors in the world treated his wounds. When he woke, he asked what had happened, and I told him. He was at first saddened by the loss of his ability to walk, but he was especially intrigued by the girl from another universe who had called to help.” I could hear the smile as it crept onto his face. “When he heard you were here, he insisted on being there when you woke up.” I finally looked over at him, his eyes level with mine. “He waited by your side the whole time. I worried he was wearing himself out too much, you see, he had only just recovered,” he laughed, “but my father is a stubborn man. He insisted on meeting the girl from another universe. And when he did,” T’Challa reached for my hand and placed his atop it. “He thought you were incredible.” I smiled and blushed, glancing away from his dark eyes, but his fingers intertwining with mine drew my eyes back to his. “He told me you saved his life. That he had died in your universe.”

My smile died on my lips as I pulled my hand from his and fixed my gaze on my lap awkwardly.

“Why did you not tell me?”

I couldn’t bring myself to answer.

“Those things I said to you before, on the phone,” he knelt beside my bed and took one of my hands in his, “I must ask for your forgiveness. I spoke out of anger and grief. You have gifted me with the life of my father, and there is no way I could possibly repay you.”

My lips parted at his words, and when our eyes met again, it felt like I was falling into his pupils. And boy was I enjoying the trip. Eventually I found my voice. “There is no payment necessary,” I answered before adding, “your highness.”

“Please,” T’Challa stood, towering over me, “call me T’Challa.”

I smirked at him, “You are very much like your father aren’t you.” That earned a smile from him. “T’Challa,” I corrected myself.

He nodded and finally let the hand he was holding slip out of his grip as he walked out of the room, nodding again at the two men beside me.

They watched him go, half amused and half curious on Steve’s part, but Sam’s look had a definite twinge of distaste for the Prince of Wakanda. The super soldier turned back to me with raised brows and a knowing smirk that made me blush all over.

“Well,” he started, clapping his hands together and then interlocking his fingers behind his head as he leaned back in his seat, “I’m glad to see the two of you are off to a fresh start.”

“Yeah,” Sam added, his brows knitted together in worry. “Just make sure things don’t get too fresh with that one…”

My blush deepened and I stammered through my giddy smile “Sam, I don’t think he’s that kind of guy—.”

“Oh, there’re _all_ that kinda guy.” His eyes widened in warning, “I don’t look out for you with Pietro and look how that ended up. No sir, not making _that_ mistake again…”

I rolled my eyes, “T’Challa is _not_ Pietro.”

“You’re already defending him! You’ve only been allies for—what— two minutes?” He looked to Steve for back up, but the captain just shrugged.

“Honestly, I’m alright with it.” He looked to me, “As long as you’re happy.”

I threw my hands up in indignity. “For Christ sake! Nothing is happening! I just met the guy!”

Sam huffed and Steve laughed at my out burst before comforting me and telling me that they were “only joking” and knew that it was “absolutely nothing.” Sam added that “it should stay that way” under his breath, but a rough elbow in the ribcage from Steve shut him up quick.

“Oh, and I almost forgot,” Steve reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a folded white envelope. “This is yours.”

I reached for the sealed paper, quickly recognizing Bruce’s scrawled handwriting on the back _._ I didn’t hesitate to open it, tearing a neat line along the top crease and pulling out the paper within.

I read aloud, “I swore to stay out of the action for this fight so I didn’t accidentally do any permanent damage to anyone I cared about, but when I heard you were back, I wanted to find a way to help you. I do believe Tony is right, and Steve needs to come to the law, but I can also see that there’s a slim chance of that happening anytime soon. In the meantime, as you are currently a fugitive, you must know that you cannot come back here and—.” I stopped, my eyes scanning over the next words incredulously.

“What is it?” Sam asked, worried.

“…Cannot come back here and access the portal that sends you home.” I took a deep breath, closing to ignore the sorrow that struck Steve’s face. “This means that for the time being, you are stranded here. But there is something I can do. In the envelope, you’ll find a thin, translucent wiring sheet. Peel it off like a sticker and put it on the back of your phone, or any phone if you couldn’t get yours back from the prison.” I stopped for a moment to pluck said sheet from the envelope and examined it carefully. “This will give your phone the capability to call back to your universe without being tracked by Tony.” I smiled, _I may not be able to get home, but at least there won’t be radio silence._

I continued reading, “I know this is a temporary fix, and I’ve already been working on a new device that will allow you to jump universes with out an anchoring portal, but I still haven’t fully worked out all its flaws.” My heart raced with excitement. “I’m working day and night to get you home again, although I’ve missed you very much. Give me a call in a few weeks and we’ll discuss a way to get the new tech to you. Stay safe, Bruce.”

We were all silent for a few moments before Sam spoke.

“Well, I guess you’re stuck with us for now.”

I nodded, fiddling with the flexible wiring before Sam snatched it from my hands.

“I’m gonna go see if the Prince of Cats has an extra smart phone laying around so you can call your mom. I’m sure she’s worried about you.” He leaned down and ruffled the top of my head before turning to leave.“I know we would be…”


	24. A Visit From an Old Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: mention of suicide, more creepy men stuff

The rest of the day was filled with visits from the rest of the team with short naps between each as the doctor ordered so I didn’t get too overwhelmed. After Steve and Sam came Wanda and Clint, who were relieved to see me well, and were soon joined by the new addition— Scott, who decided to cheer me up with some playful science jokes. They stayed with me while I ate dinner and then departed down to their own meals after Dr. Anola shooed them out so I could sleep.

The last time I woke that day, it was late in the evening, and the sun was just starting to set in the summer sky. I heard hushed voices from the side of my bed and turned to see Steve sitting there with—.

“Bucky?” I asked, sitting up.

“Woah, woah, woah,” Steve hustled forward to push me back down on the bed, “You’ve gotta stay down, remember? Can’t have too much movement with your head.”

I settled back down, keeping my eyes locked with Bucky’s the whole time, searching for something to say. My eyes flickered to his arm.

“I see you found a way to keep your arm,” I croaked, my voice still dry with sleep.

The both of them cracked a smile at that, and Steve threw a happy glance at his old best friend. I smiled with them, happy that they could be happy, even if it was only for a moment.

“Bucky wanted to come by and see you,” Steve explained, “after everything you’ve done for him…”

I nodded my understanding, and the room was quiet for a while. It was comfortable, but I still wanted to break it with the question that had been clawing at my mind since I woke up.

“So, in my universe,” I began, peaking the boys attention. “You,” I looked at Bucky, “made a pretty big decision when you got here.” His eyebrows raised and Steve’s hand flew to his friend’s shoulder. “About going back on ice.”

Bucky took a deep breath, and ran his flesh hand through his hair. He was about to speak, but I cut him off.

“Don’t.”

That really caught their attention. Steve shifted forward in his seat, brows furrowed.

“Are you su—?”

“Yep.”

They shared a quizzical look before fixing their eyes on me again.

I sighed, “Look, he’s already gotten so much better, just from being away from them for a year. He’s going to start remembering more and more. Plus, we’ve got Wanda here to help him inside his mind.” Steve looked to Bucky as he considered it.

“But the words,” the brunette mumbled, his breath quickening, “if someone says—.”

“The incredibly top secret intricate series of meaningless words in a foreign langue?” I raised a brow at him. “That’s not at the top of my list of worries.”

Steve chuckled, surprising Bucky beside him who smiled in turn.

“Well, that sounds fair enough for me,” Steve threw up his hands, and cast a look at Bucky. “But it’s your decision.”

He walked away from the both of us before stopping by my open window, obviously considering his options. It took another moment before he spoke.

“Well, if I were to stay…”

Steve and I took in an breath, as he looked back at us.

“It’s not like I wouldn’t be able to go under later. If I felt like things were—,” he swallowed, “were getting out of control.”

“Yeah,” Steve stood and crossed to him, “Yeah of course, Buck. Whatever you’re comfortable with.”

Bucky nodded, a grin stretching across his face. His eyes met mine and the nodding stopped, his grin turning into a genuine smile.

“Thank you,” Bucky said, his smile fading into a look of seriousness.

I smiled softly in return, knowing how heavy those words were hanging in the air.

Dr. Anola stepped into the room glancing over at the two super soldiers before addressing me. “I’m afraid you should be getting to sleep now, so you two,” her accent thick as she pointed comically at Steve and Bucky, “are going to have to leave her be.”

Steve slid his hands out of his pockets as he smiled at the doctor. He walked over to me and planted a kiss on the top of my head, lingering for just a second. He looked me in the eyes, “Goodnight.” His eyes held the faintest taste of bittersweet as he left me, Bucky trailing behind him, glancing between the two of us, confused.

Anola watched them go before turning back to me. “Do you need anything for tonight? Do you have to go to the bathroom?”

I scoffed and shook my head as I remembered my dutiful doctor half carrying me the few steps to the bathroom, insisting that if I were to stand on my own I would surely— oh, I don’t know— _die_. “No, no I’m fine. I’m sure I can keep breathing ’til morning.”

She crooked an eyebrow at me, smiling, “Alright. Sleep well.” She shut off the lights in the room and let me bathing in the dull evening glow until I drifted back off to a deep sleep.

———————————————————————————————————————

I woke in the middle of the night, the darkness suffocating until my eyes adjusted to the pale moonlight reflecting off of the night mist. I shivered in my thin hospital clothes and pulled my blanket tighter around me. I glanced toward the open window, wondering if I should close it, when I saw something. It was tiny, a little flicker of light deep in the forest. To anyone else, it would’ve been there and gone and forgotten in the next moment. But to me, it was different. It was familiar. It was purple.

I carefully swung my legs out of bed, the stone floor cold on the bottom of my feet. I crept towards the window, finding it surprisingly hard to keep my balance. I half fell against the windowsill, bracing myself with my hands. My eyes searched the jungle outside, for another flicker of light, but found nothing. The world just seemed to be getting darker and darker. I strained my eyes to keep looking, but my vision was clouded with these— these black spots like—.

_Oh._

I collapsed to the ground.

———————————————————————————————————————

My head lolled to the side, resting hard on the floor. I groaned in pain as my eyes met the bright morning light.

“Yintoni eenzekileyo!” Anola exclaimed as she ran to my side. I turned my head to see that I was resting in a pool of blood.

“Shit,” I mumbled, trying to get up.

“No!” Anola rushed to me. “Stop, don’t move. Let me get help.” She dashed out of the room, swinging through the doorway with a single hand on its frame. She called something I didn’t understand out to the hallway, and soon footsteps were rushing towards me. I felt two men lifting me off the floor while Anola cradled my blood soaked head. They set me down on the bed on my side. I grumbled and tried to flip on to my back, but was held firmly in place.

“Gcina,” Anola ordered from behind me, and I felt the hands of the two men tighten around me.

I heard a voice in the hallway. “Hey. Hey!” Footsteps now, running towards me. I opened my eyes to see Steve standing in the doorway, eyes wide and panicked as he looked over me. He pushed forward.

“Get out!” Anola ordered, never once stopping her delicate hands from dancing around the back of my neck. One of the men holding me, left to firmly usher the frantic Steve from the room. He fought for a moment, but seemingly met the gaze of my fearless doctor and deemed it better to let her do her work. I saw him duck out of the room, but he still stayed within my field of vision as he leaned tensely against the wall of the hallway.

“Owww,” I groaned as I felt a sharp prick at the base of my skull.

“It wouldn’t hurt if you had stayed put last night,” Anola grumbled from behind me. “You popped the end of your stitches.”

“…sorry.”

“Yes well,” the needle poked in and out of my head again, “‘Sorry’ doesn’t sew you up.” I heard a clang as she set her instruments down on the tray beside her. The two men let me lay back, the crisis seeming to be averted for the moment. “You’re lucky it wasn’t a bigger cut,” she slipped her rubber gloves off and tossed them in the trash, “or you would’ve bled out long before we found you.” The agitation was clear in her voice as she nodded towards the blood on the floor. I cringed at its size. “We’ll have to get you some more blood, do you know your type?” I shook my head no. She rubbed her face, “Which means a trip to the blood bank for me and drawing more blood from you,” she looked at me sideways, “and that won’t be pleasant for either of us.”

I sank further into the bed. “I’m sorry. I saw something in the jungle and I just—.”

“It’s alright,” she comforted me, as she checked my pupils and my pulse. “Ok, I’ll have my assistant check your type while I run to the med center in town.” She turned to leave but stopped when she had a sudden thought, “Oh!” She turned back to me. “And from here on out, you will _always_ be accompanied in your room so you won’t go for anymore midnight strolls.” She turned to Steve who was still lingering in the hallway, “And you have just volunteered to take the first watch.” She and the two men cleared out of the room as Steve rushed in, sitting by my side, and pushing my hair away from my face.

“What happened?” he asked as his eyes checked me over for any other injuries.

“I— I saw something in the jungle, the purple light again.”

“Again?” his worry increased ten fold. “Did it— did he—?”

“Nothing happened,” I reassured him, “I thought saw it, and I did’t think I was as weak as I was. So I got up, just to get a closer look out the window. And I— uh— fainted. It was probably nothing anyway.” I sank further into my bed.

“Hello?” A small voice peaked from the doorway, followed by a smaller girl. She must’ve been about my age, but upon first glance, she didn’t look it. “I’m Anola’s assistant. I am here to take your blood, yes?”

I smiled at her politely, “Oh yes, thank you.”

She hurried over to the far side of the bed and set her vial and needles on the table. She tied an elastic band around my upper arm and slid the needle into my vein. “Now you may feel bad because you lost already—uh,” she glanced at the pool of blood on the floor. “Well, you’ve lost a lot.”

I was about to respond before a wave of nausea washed over me. “Ugh.” Steve put his hand on my other arm reassuringly.

“Can she sleep again?” he asked the small woman across from him.

“Yes,” she replied as she drew the needle from my arm.

“Sleep.” He cooed in my ear as I promptly passed out, the lack of blood stealing my consciousness away.

———————————————————————————————————————

I woke again around mid morning, this time with a very disgruntled Clint by the side of my bed.

“Good morning princess,” he grumbled as he handed me a glass of water. “Drink,” he commanded and I obeyed without hesitation. “So I heard you tried to go on a little adventure last night and almost _died,”_ he glared at me. “Care to explain?”

I rolled my eyes at him, “It wasn’t a little adventure. I just walked to the window, I thought I had seen something outside.”

“The purple light?” he asked.

I nodded.

His head tipped back, “Oh, great. Steve told me, I was just hoping it wasn’t true.” He looked at me, “That guy with the light has been MIA since you left. I was hoping we had seen the last of him.”

“I— I can’t even be sure if I really saw anything, alright?” I set the water back down on my bedside table. “I just went to my window and— and— and I fell so it doesn’t even matter if I saw something not, I probably just imagined it all.” I was starting to get dizzy again.

Clint moved to kneel by my side. “Hey, kiddo, hey. You’re fine. You’re safe. And you’re not getting hurt again as long as any of us are watching you.” His eyes crinkled with his smile.

I nodded, my dizziness fading as I blinked it hurriedly away. “Thank you guys for that, by the way. For watching me, I mean, having my back.”

His smile faded and his look turned to one of sincerity. “We always will. We’re a team.”

I looked away sadly, “Not anymore…”

“Not right now,” Clint corrected, “Not in everyone’s minds. But they’ll come around. And even if not everyone can see it, we’re always a team.”

“Always?”

“Always.”

I sighed and nodded, gesturing for him to pass me a glass of water on my bedside table. I took a sip and smiled at him. “Well, at least we’ll _always_ have your unfailing optimism.”

He crooked a brow and leaned back. “Not always, sugar. Somethings are forever, but people? You? Me? All we can do is make the most of the time we have.”

I sputtered my water, “Well fucking thanks for that depressing ass memo, Clint.” I tried to wipe the dribbling water from my chin.

He just smiled and laughed, taking the water glass from my hand and placing it back on the table. “I’m glad I could help,” he winked. “Now, call your parents to check in, and then get back to bed. You’ve gotta sleep this thing off so we can get you back in training; you were damn rusty back there.”

I glared at him, indignant. “I was not,” I grumbled knowing full well that I was.

He rolled his eyes and me, “Uh huh, just call your parents and go to sleep.”

“You really are quite the dad aren’t you?” I squinted at him through smiling eyes.

He had already opened the days paper and began reading it in his seat. His eyes didn’t even shift to mine as he spoke. “I try to be.”

———————————————————————————————————————

I heard a soft voice whisper my name and my eyelids quivered at the gentle waking. I had gotten used to the constant wake-sleep schedule over the past days, always with different voices rousing me from the comfort of sleep into a much more entertaining world that soon faded into a cacophony of blistering headaches and ringing ears.

“Come on, sweetheart, wake up.” A warm hand nudged my shoulder, dragging meout of rest, and tucked a stray hair behind my ear, lingering on its curve.

I shrugged myself awake, wondering who could be waking me with such care and consideration. My eyes fluttered open only to meet two brilliant green eyes just inches from my face.

“Hello, my little dove.”

I wanted to jump a foot in the air at the sound of the cool voice purring down at me, but my body was frozen in place. Instead, only my heart could leap as it tried to fly out of my chest. I wanted to scream, to run, but I couldn’t.

He chuckled lowly at my startled face. “It has been too long, I know. And what a shock it must be to see me here,” he sat on the edge of my bed, his hand coming to rest on my sheet covered leg. “But I just had to see you somehow.”

I could only uncover a fragment of my voice, “Why?”

His eyes softened at that, and the fingers that he had laid over my thigh began to stroke up and down. “I had thought, that would’ve been obvious by now.” I felt my chest tighten and go cold, but before I could speak again, he continued. “But I also had to check on you— make sure our connection still worked after you being gone all that time.” He shifted closer to me before continuing.

“See, right before you had left, we were starting to doubt our plan. We were worried that we hadn’t been pushing you hard enough. You already had the team wrapped around your finger— remarkably fast, I might add,” he flashed a devilishly handsome smile at me. “But we needed you to fall just as quickly as you had risen. And no matter how we pushed you, you just wouldn’t do it. We couldn’t do it for you, couldn’t just make you walk off a cliff. Maybe if we had had you under control for a year or two, but not with the connection we had. Too many times we watch new recruits regain their will power standing on the edge of the building and go get help.” He shook his head, “Something about those high stakes just wakes the mind up. So instead we would plant other thoughts, try to frame the thought of, well, _ending_ _things_ so it comes directly from the subject under our influence. That’s what we tried to do with you.”

“That was you?” I whispered, finally stunned out of trying to break the invisible hold he had on my body.

He nodded, “We tried to make it seem natural to you, take the seeds that were already in your head and water them. And you gave us quite the head start,” he smiled. “But you were strong. My strong, beautiful girl.” He reached up to cup my face with his hand. “We started by sending in that blonde bimbo for your boyfriend to fiddle with, but that only seemed to start the ball rolling. We thought you were on the edge at New Years, we even paid off an agent to go up and harass you at Tony’s party,” he grimaced, “But then someone else stood up to defend you, and all our hard work went down the drain. We killed him to see if that would set you off,” I felt my breath stop short as his words hit me, “but you just left. And we were going to get you back like we had last time you decided to take some time off, but then we discovered this— this brilliant mad man that was tracking the Winter Soldier.” His eyes glinted with pride. “Someone with so much hate and so little to loose, and he wanted exactly what we wanted: the ruin of the Avengers. All he needed was funds and backing, and our little production was more than happy to supply both.

“So now the question is: what to do with you?” his green eyes narrowed, “The team is fractured, significantly weaker now. And then there’s you. My little dove,” he squeezed my thigh. “I wonder what will become of you…” A cat-like smile spread across his face.

I was frozen again, unable to speak as he leaned forward and kissed me full on the lips, warm and sweet and lingering.

“Until next time, dove.”

I woke with a start in a cold sweat.

“Woah—!” A frantic voice sounded from beside me. “Are you alright?”

My breathing started to slow. I looked over to find Sam’s worried eyes looking into mine, although they were hard to find in the dark of the room, his hands settled on my shoulders, trying to steady me as I started to lift myself out of the bed. I was panting and looking frantically around the room. “Where is he? Where is he?” I repeated the question over and over again, even looking towards the trees outside my window two see if there was a lingering flicker of purple light, but I found nothing.

“Who? Who are you looking for?” Sam sat on the bed in front of me and held my face in his as he made me look at him. “No one’s been here but me. I’ve been here all night, no one else has come in the room.”

My breath steadied, as I thought through the possibilities. _It was just a dream. Just a dream. But everything he said? It felt so real… So true…_ I looked up at Sam. “Get Wanda.”

He nodded and ran out of the room at a pace I had only seen him use in battle. I could hear him calling to a nurse to watch me while he ran and sure enough, she rushed into the room seconds after he had left it. She was taking my pulse and patting my sweaty brow with a damp cloth as she urged me to lay back down. She removed my sweat soaked sheet and helped me out of my light cotton hospital dress, easing a fresh one over my head and laying a clean sheet over my legs.

By the time she was done, Sam had returned with a worried Wanda, wrapped in a bathrobe and wearing loud flip flops. She rushed over to my side.

“What happened? Sam said you had a nightmare…” She fell silent as I moved her hand to my temple, giving her unspoken permission to poke around my mind. I recalled the dream I had had, everything Erik had said to me, everything he had done. Her eyes closed as she saw and heard what I had just minutes before. She pulled away slowly as she watched it end.

“Oh,” her hand fell to mine and held it reassuringly. “So he has been here all this time, in your head, making you think these things.”

“The scientist?” Sam asked, suddenly going into mission-like focus.

I nodded grimly. “It all makes more sense now doesn’t it? H—how did this even happen? He can just step into my dreams?”

She shook her head, “I don’t know, but it certainly seems that the longer he has you under his control, the stronger the connection becomes.” She ran a hand through her hair. “We’ll have to tell the team about this tomorrow, maybe one of them will have better insight on what we can do. For now, I will stay with you, Sam’s shift is over anyway, and I’ll watch to see if he will invade your mind like that again, although it sounded like he was done with that for the night…” She nodded to Sam as she settled back in the chair by my bedside.

Sam crossed to me and placed a hand on mine, wishing me a silent goodnight before he ducked out of the room.

I sighed deeply as he left, running my hands over my face. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep again after all that… And I’m sorry for waking you up.”

She chuckled lowly, “Don’t be, it was a valid reason to be woken. Now let me help you sleep, or you’ll never heal and you’ll have to be stuck in this hospital room forever.” A red mist settled over my eyes as the drifted closed, and I was asleep before I could thank her.

———————————————————————————————————————

Although we decided to gather the rest of the team early that next morning to tell them what had happened. Wanda sent out a metal call for the team to meet at noon, but the team being who the team was…

By one, everyone had congregated in my medical room.

“Alright,” Sam started, rubbing his face in exasperation. “So now that you’re all here—,” he glared at Scott, who was the last to arrive, and was still trying to nod off as he leaned against the wall. Antman stood up a little straighter when he caught the shine off Sam’s glare. “We can talk about the problem at hand.”

“And what would that problem be exactly?” asked T’Challa from his position perched on the windowsill.

Sam raised his brows and threw his hands up in a gesture of surrender, “I’m gonna let the ladies explain it to you, I don’t know if I fully understand it yet.” He stepped to the edge of the room with the rest of the team and looked at Wanda and I with expectant, encouraging eyes.

Wanda looked at me, silently asking if I wanted to start. I shook my head. She pursed her lips and surveyed the room before beginning. “The scientist Erik Collier has not been gone these past months. In fact, he and his team were the ones that backed the man that tried to frame Barns— that’s how they always knew how to evade her insights; Erik kept them one step ahead.”

A mixture of shock and confusion racked through the team.

“Erik Collier? Who is that?” Scott questioned, looking around the room, but only meeting Bucky’s equally confused eyes.

“He’s a scientist,” Steve answered, arms bulging as he crossed them over his chest. “The one that opened the portal between her universe and ours. He pulled her out, gave her powers, and wiped her memory of him before he sent her to us. Ever since then, he’s been messing around in her brain.”

“So he can read her mind?” T’Challa asked, brows furrowed.

“And control it, to a certain extent.” Everyone’s eyes shot to me with various levels of surprise, worry, and pity. I continued, “Nothing too extreme so far, only walking, talking, kissing—.”

“Wait, what?” That was Bucky this time, his disgust evident on his face.

I blushed lightly as the embarrassment rose in my cheeks. I looked down to try and hide it as well as I could. “Yeah— um, he seems to have kinda taken a liking to me, I guess.”

“Ok, well that’s crazy rape-y.” Scott blurted out, fully awake now, and received a cutting glare from Sam. “What? I’m just saying what the rest of you are thinking. That’s fucking— I mean—!”

“Yeah, we’re aware,” Clint growled, shutting the engineer up.

“How do we know all of this anyway?” T’Challa spoke up, clearly beyond irritated by the previous turn of conversation and determined to set it on a track that wouldn’t lead him to punching a wall.

“Well,” Wanda started, “apparently, now he can access her dreams. He came to her last night, explained how he had planned for her to join the Avengers, win the heart of the team, and then kill herself, planting blame to turn them against each other.” She looked to me, and I sighed before continuing where she had left off.

“But, like I said before, he couldn’t control me as strongly as he needed to to just make me walk off a cliff or something. Apparently, in new recruits, facing death like that at the hands of someone else is usually enough to wake the subject up and get them to run to help. That’s probably why he couldn’t control my powers while he was in my head. Things like that just take too much focus and energy. He said that he’d need to be in a subject’s head for a year at the very least to do anything like that, but so far I’ve been too strong…” I paused, taking a deep breath. “So instead of just trying to get me to walk off the roof, he started planting thoughts in my head, doubts, worries. Thoughts that I had already started to cultivate on my own. Thoughts that might,” the words stuck in my throat, “end me.”

I refused to meet the eyes of anyone around me. “But I wouldn’t do it. He said things were moving too slowly with me. That’s when he found out about Zemo and _his_ plans to ruin the team, so he just jumped ship and helped him instead.” I looked up at Steve’s worried eyes, afraid to see the face of anyone else in the room. “Now he just does’t know what to do with me.”

There was a long silence as my words began to sink in.

“And he said all this to you last night? In a dream?” T’Challa’s eyes were closed, his face resting on one of his hands as his fingers massaged his temple.

I nodded.

“And that purple light you saw the other day? That was probably him— what paying you a visit?” Clint drawled sarcastically.

I shrugged and nodded again. The light that I had thought was in the woods was probably just in my room, but I had only caught a glimpse of it as the portal shrunk.

It was quiet.

“…Did he kiss you?” Scott asked awkwardly, still fixated on the whole kissing thing, earning several groans from the team.

I shrunk into my bed as the hushed reprimands faded and I felt eyes on me once more.

“Oh my God, he did, didn’t he?” That was Sam.

I glued my gaze to my sheets and felt tears pricking at my eyes.

“Where is he now?” T’Challa stood and began pacing in front of the others. “Captain, you come with me. We’re going to kill him.” He, Steve, Bucky, and Sam were actually headed towards the door when Wanda’s voice stopped them.

“Wait!” They froze by the door, but still buzzed with the dark energy of purpose. “Didn’t you hear her? He couldn’t kill her before, but now their connection is stronger…” They all seemed to fade by the door as horror grew in their eyes. “What if you get to him and he threatens to kill her?”

“But we can’t wait,” Bucky added, “Like you said, the longer we wait the stronger their connection.”

“Yes, but you can’t just rush in without a plan— without even knowing where he is! He could find out you’re coming for him before you even find him, and then what?! This is too delicate a situation,” Wanda countered.

“Wait, just—just hold on a sec. If our connection’s only going to get stronger, how long until he can control my powers? What if he tries to make me hurt one of you?” I met Steve’s eyes first, then Bucky’s, and finally T’Challa’s, briefly before he looked away.

“She’s got a point,” Scott came over to defend me, “We’ve gotta be careful here, or this could get ugly fast.”

All eyes turned to Steve as his concentrated face turned towards the ground, all of us waiting for our leader to lead.

“Alright,” he came to a decision, “This is what we’re gonna do.” He stopped and looked at me, “We’re not going to talk about this is front of her anymore.”

My eyebrows shot up in surprise, and I was about to argue when he cut me off.

“ _Because_ we don’t know if Erik is listening in on your thoughts. So, all you need to know for now is that you are going to have one of us by your side ever minute of everyday, no if’s, and’s, or but’s, and you’re going to be spending any and all free time training you powers. Maybe if you have a better handle on them, it’ll be harder for Erik to take them into his own hands.”

My open mouth snapped shut and I nodded dumbly.

He shifted his gaze to Scott, “You’ve got first watch, everyone else come with me and we’ll try and figure out how to fix this mess.”

“Aye, aye, Cap.” Ant Man replied as the rest of the team filed out of the room. When the door swung shut he fixed me with a wicked grin. “So, how do you fancy a game of cards?”


	25. Orientation

“Got any jacks?”

“Go fish.”

He grumbled as he drew a card from the deck.

“So,” I assessed my hand of cards nonchalantly, “how’s your daughter?”

His eyes flicked from his cards to my face in sudden surprise before he shook his head with a light sigh. “I forget sometimes how much you know.”

I winced, “Sorry. I forgot that you might not be used to it.” I looked up at him, “Any tens?” He handed one of his tens over and I set it between us as we sat cross legged on my bed.

“I get to talk to her on the phone— FaceTime some nights, now that her mom and I are on better terms.”

I nodded sympathetically. I understood how hard it could be to be kept from your family like that. “It _is_ her summer break,” I suggested, “maybe we could see if she wanted to come down and visit? I can’t think of a little girl that doesn’t want to spend some time in a mansion in the middle of a jungle with a house full of superheroes.” I crooked a mischievous eyebrow at him and he mirrored my look.

“She would like that.” He sighed, “Maybe I’ll try and take it up with her mother, if I can catch her in a good mood.” His smile made me smile, “Got any fours?”

I scrunched up my nose in irritation as I handed him my four and he placed the set on the white sheets. “You know, I think this is the only card game I’m not good at.”

He raised his brows at me.

“No really, we should play poker sometime, I’ll own your house by the end of the game.”

“Now that,” he laughed, “is good information to have. We’ll have to sic you on that dear sweet prince of yours, get us a nice little slice of Wakandan real estate.”

I rolled my eyes at him, “He’s not _my_ anything. I just met the guy!”

“Yeah, but he’s certainly got a thing for you. And he’s not that much older, I think he just finished college anyway…”

I mulled this information over for a minute, before seeing the teasing look in Scotts eyes and blushing profusely. I changed the subject. “Anyway, I don’t think the real estate gets much better than where we are right now,” I gazed out my open window and his eyes followed mine.

“Yeah,” he sighed again, “I think you might be right there.” He looked back at me with this strange expression on his face. “You know, I feel like maybe when Cassie gets older, she might be kinda like you…”

My eyes softened and a bashful smile spread across my face.

His smile grew, “Christ, how am I ever going to deal with her then—.”

I scoffed at him indignantly and grabbed my pillow behind me, swinging at his face, disrupting the deck of cards, sending them flying around the room. He laughed and tried to fight off my pillow attacks to no avail.

“Aw lo—look what you’ve done now.” He gestured to the cards on the floor between soft chuckles. He hopped up to start gathering the cards on one side of the bed while I started to gather the ones on the other side. We had finally gotten the deck back together when Steve walked in the room, followed by T’Challa, Bucky, Clint, Wanda, and Sam.

“Ok,” the captain started, arms crossed over his chest, “we’ve got a plan.”

Scott and I looked at him expectantly, but he only sighed, defeated.

“It’s not much of a plan, more like an idea of how you’re not going to die— and you’re not going to like a lot of it.”

My heart sank a bit, but I painted a smile on my face, not wanted to weaken the resolve of the already worried team any more. “Just give it to me straight, Cap.”

He pursed his lips and scrunched his forehead as he looked down at the ground, then back to my eyes. “Well, first off: the doctors said that you’re cleared to leave the medical ward today, so you’ll be moving into your own suite and have free roam as long as you’re not physically exerting yourself too much. And Dr. Anola said if she catches wind of you training before you’re 100% ready to, she will personally drag you back to this room and strap you to the bed until you’re well again.”

I winced at Anola’s threat, knowing just hoe seriously she’d take it, but could’t stop my genuine grin at the idea of freedom again. The chance to walk to the bathroom by myself— maybe even explore the grounds a bit. My hopes for the future soared.

“So, after this I’ll show you to your suite, maybe show you around for a while, and then we’ll see who take watch tonight.”

_Wait, hang on._

“Watch tonight? Really? That doesn’t end when I get out of here?”

Steve just rubbed his face, “Come on, don’t be ridiculous about this. Night is when he’s coming for you. So, yes, you’re gonna have one of us watching over you.”

I grumbled a bit, knowing he was right. “But wait!” I had an idea. “What about a camera in the room. I mean that’s almost creepier, but—.”

“Sparks, this guy is a genius, if Tony Stark can hack into the cameras at the highest security prison in the world, I think it’s fair to assume this guy can do the same thing here.” Steve’s eyes held my own, sad, but unyielding.

I sighed, breaking my glare. “Alright. Fine. Can I at least get out of this room now? I’m going crazy in here…” I mumbled the last bit, pouting.

Steve smiled, “Alright. The prince and I will show you to your room. Everyone else, get Scott up to date on our other plans.” He took on of my hands and helped me down from my bed, leading me through the door with T’Challa in tow.

———————————————————————————————————————

The three of us crossed through a lush courtyard fit with a delicate trickling stream as they lead my into the main housing complex, and I was nothing short of amazed. Surprisingly different from the modern med and science bay, the mansion wasn’t built like anything I’d ever seen before, with futuristic architecture and gilded walls. They lead me up a generous staircase as we entered, climbing until we had reached the fourth floor of the palace. Things up here had clearly been seen to in a different way from downstairs. For the hub of the living courters, the area was less grand, and slightly more casual with polished wood walls and only a hint of gold ornamentation.

“This is a part of my wing,” T’Challa explained and my eyebrows shot up.

_Of course he has a wing, he’s a prince._

He noticed my reaction and smiled a bit, continuing to lead me through ‘his wing’. “This is our communal area,” he gestured to a large living room fit with couches and a large TV. “For the most part we will address our dining needs and bring you whatever you desire and meals are largely kept in my dining room a floor below, but this room is also equipped with a small kitchenette, always stocked with whatever you ask for.” Sure enough the back wall of the living room was lined with a few cupboards and a fridge, along with a sink and some counter space.

I paused for a minute, trying to orient myself in the large space, trying to remember which direction the med wing had been in.

“Are you ready?” T’Challa asked, smiling from the doorway in front of me where he waited with Steve. I looked to him, still a bit awestruck. His smile widened and he stepped towards me to take my hand, “Come, I’ll show you to your room.”

I didn’t miss Steve’s glance at our joined hands as we passed him.

Turning two corners, I was lead through the halls by the Prince, all the while hoping my hand wasn’t sweating too much in his. He stopped me in front of a door on our right, deep mahogany like the others we had passed on this floor. He pressed his hand to the golden knob and threw a cocky smile back at me before swinging it open.

I stepped in, immediately smiling at the sight of it. It was just as I had expected it to look after I had seen the rest of the floor, but walking in and knowing that this was _mine_ , knowing that I actually got to stay here, among the lightly guided walls and chandler clad ceilings.

I floated through the little sitting room, fit with a couch and two chairs around a coffee table, all in front of a demure fireplace. Straight in front of me were two tall windows, thrown generously open, letting in the sound of rushing water. I made to cross to them, but stopped when I felt a hand on my wrist.

“Hold on,” T’Challa purred through his grin. He lead me through a door to our left to reveal a bedroom with an almost offensively large, fluffy, white bed. I think I audibly gasped, making the Black Panther chuckle. “Come this way,” he guided me over to a large sliding door outfitted with intricate embroidered curtains, and brought me onto a wide stone balcony.

“Oh,” I sighed, overjoyed by the sight. Before me was what I assumed to be the royal gardens, but were a far cry from the sharply manicured gardens one might see in the field of France and Britain. This was incredible, a stone pathway creeping its way through the speckled shadows thrown by the tall jungle trees surrounding it. Although I found it hard to believe: it was even more beautiful than the view from my previous window.

“The Captain and I thought this would be a suitable room for you,” T’Challa said, leaning against the stone railing and glancing back at Steve who lingered by the glass door.

“It was really the Prince’s idea, Sparks,” Steve teased. “He’s just being humble.”

I blushed and chuckled, “Oh really, and what makes this room so special?” I glanced between the two men.

“Well,” T’Challa came to me and urged me to look further over the edge of the balcony with a gentle hand on the small of my back. “Do you see that?”

I surely did. The sound of rushing water came from a waterfall near the base of the building that fed into a large pool directly below me, and further into the garden in the form of a gentle stream.

“We thought, at first, it might be a bad idea to give you a balcony,” T’Challa began to explain, “but I so badly wanted to give you a view of my country.” His eyes glinted with shyness for a half second before he continued. “So the Captain and I agreed on this. A beautiful view, but with the pool underneath— a fall from here wouldn’t harm you.”

My heart sank. _Oh_. This was a precaution. In case Erik tried to kill me again.

The men seemed to sense my discomfort at hearing this, and immediately rushed to my side. I felt Steve’s reassuring hand at my back, while T’Challa’s came to cup my face.

“Look at me,” the prince ordered, with a voice I hadn’t heard since he had invited us here. I locked eyes with him. “You will not be hurt here. We will not allow it. _I_ will not allow it. _I_ will protect you here. I swear.”

Our faces were close now, closer than I had ever been to him before. I could feel his breath mingling with mine. I could kiss him. Just lean forward—.

“Well, I think the Panther said it all.” Steve’s voice surprised us and we sprung away from each other as the super soldiers hand fell from my back. He looked at the two of us with one raised brow and a knowing, if not slightly pained smile. His eyes softened as he looked at me, “He’s right, Sparks. We’ve got you. We’re going to do everything we can.” He set his large hand on my shoulder this time and I breathed into its comforting weight, enjoying the warm touch.

“Now,” he continued, “I know that you have lots of Princely duties to attend to T’Challa.” He looked pointedly at the man who was looking as bashful as I had ever seen him. “Besides, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time with her during your watch. Wouldn’t want you to get tired of her before then.”

T’Challa smiled at the Captains teasing, nodding to him. He seemed to start to leave, but as he passed me, he grabbed my hand, pressing it to his lips. “To be tired of you, is impossible,” he whispered across my knuckles, low enough that anyone other than a super soldier would never had heard. But Steve did.

“Alright, Romeo, she gets it,” he bristled at the prince who simply shrugged and strutted out of my suite. Steve’s eyes followed him out.

I punched him in the shoulder, laughing. “I thought you wanted us together?! Why’d you go and do that?”

He fixed me with a tight smile, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

I rolled my eyes and tried to push past him, but he caught me around my waist and sung me up on his shoulder, carrying me into my bedroom and grinning the whole time.

“Ah!” I squealed, pounding on his back, “Foul! Foul! I call unfair play! Ohhh the doc is gonna kill you—.”

“The doc isn’t gonna find out, doll. I’ve known you longer, I know you’re more resilient than you look.” He set me on my feet next to the bed. “And yes, I am pro-you and T’Challa. I mean, after that last asshole you dated, you deserve someone _good_.”

I smiled up at him, and he returned the look.

It was a nice moment. I wanted to remember it. Just standing here. Just smiling.

“Come on, we’ll get some snacks and chill in the living room.”

I nodded and followed him back through the increasingly familiar hallways. We turned the last corner, finding Clint, Sam, and Scott spreading out of the couch watching a soccer game. They all waved a friendly hello before their attention was drawn back to the screen.

“Ok, so what do you think you want?” Steve threw open one of the snack cupboards and I was struck with more awe than when I had first been the palace. The cabinet was stocked full of every flavor of chips, chocolates, crackers. It held cans of ready microwavable foods, packets of popcorn, anything a hunger teenager could imagine. My mouth watered at the sight.

I settled on a classic. Ramen. I stood on my tiptoes to reach it from the top shelf, but Steve took pity on me and brought it down for me before I had to go and find a step stool. I smiled and nodded my thanks, heating water in the coffee maker.

Steve grabbed himself an Easy-Mac and slid it into the microwave, thinking for a moment before punching in the correct numbers. I remember he had gotten addicted to them back at the tower, saying that they reminded him of how his mom had made it, and was taught to use the microwave expressly for the purpose of making them.

I fought a smirk at the creature of habit. A World War, a science experiment, frozen for seventy years, gained a family, lost that family when he found his friend, and he _still_ clung to his creature comforts. Maybe that’s how he kept going.

He noticed me looking at him and raised his eyebrows in question.

I shook my head in response, silently telling him that it was nothing.

We sat on the couch and watched the game with our friends, eating Ramen and Mac and Cheese. I felt a rush of normalcy wash over me. And I liked it.


	26. The Prince

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight smut-- also this was written before Black Panther came out so it may be a lil off lol

I woke in a sweaty mess that night, panicked and tired and _scared_.

T’Challa rushed to my side from where he had been sitting by the porch. I guess it was his watch now. “What’s wrong? What happened?” A strong hand wiped the sweaty strands of hair from my forehead and he subtly looked around the room, checking for dangers: for Erik.

I shook my head, unable to find the words rights now. Instead I just placed my hand on top of his as he held my face. I let my breathing slow, my mind telling my body that it was just a dream, that there was no danger, there was no need for fight or flight.

“A dream?” T’Challa asked solemnly. “Was it him again?”

I shook my head again. “No, no it was just a nightmare. One I haven’t had since I was a kid. I think he dug it up for me…” I scooted to sit up on the bed, moving over to the ample mattress to give him space to sit.

“What was it about? Sometimes it helps to talk about it.” He set his book on my bedside table and moved close enough to me so that his leg was brushing against mine.

I took a deep breath. “Well,” I started, steadying my voice, “it’s always the same, every time I have it. I’m in a plane, flying through a storm, and I start to go down. I manage to guide it down with minimal impact, but I’m in the middle of the ocean.”

He’s watching me intently, nodding gently for me to continue.

“Once the plane is down, I start getting out of my seatbelt, grabbing my emergency bag, my life vest. And I just keep thinking, ‘get out, swim as long as you can, find an island, someone will find you, it’ll be alright.’ ”

I took a breath before continuing, “Then I look up, and the plane’s already far under. I know I can’t open the hatch now. I know there’s no way to get out. But I just keep thinking—,” I let out a sad laugh, “I’ll swim to an island, I’ll fish, I’ll survive.” I roll my eyes to keep the tears from falling. “I’m living this whole life on this island, planning how I’m gonna get through, as my plane just sinks deeper and deeper. After a while, its lights go out. And I’m stuck there in the dark, in the middle of the ocean. Not knowing what’s in front of me. Knowing I’m about to die. And not being able to do anything about it.”

I hadn’t realized that I had started crying until T’Challa’s thumb came up to swipe beneath my eye, wiping away my tears. His hand lingered at the side of my face, his thumb drawing small circles on my cheek.

I leaned into his hand, trying to remind myself that this was _real_. That the dream was over and now I was safe. And we were so close, close enough that I could make out every angle of his face in the moonlight.

A clasp of thunder outside made me jump, and he chuckled at me telling me that “It is a rain forest” and that I should “expect a storm now and then.” His words brought a smile to my lips, but it shuddered away at the next clap of thunder.

“Hey, now,” he moved closer to me, laying me down on the bed. I gripped his forearms, dragging him over me. “I’m sorry that your dream frightened you so,” he held himself above me with one arm as his other moved to stroke the top of my hair. He sighed, pressing his forehead to mine and closing his eyes. “It’s funny you know,” he murmured, a soft smile caressing his lips. “You’re so brave and strong. And yet I want to protect you.” He laughed to himself, bringing me to smile with him.

Another clap of thunder set my body jumping again, this time wrapping an arm around the prince.

“Shhh, you are only scared now because you are in a state. Please, let yourself be calm,” he laid me down on the bed once more, this time opting to lay beside me. I turned myself towards him.

“Is this alright? Will you stay with me?” I asked more meekly than I had intended, still feeling like a child after the dream.

“Yes.” He answered simply, his one word drawing the poisonous fear from my body. He wrapped his arms around me and I snuggled into his chest, listening to the rain and his heartbeat as I fell asleep.

———————————————————————————————————————

I woke with the sunlight warming my face, but tried to wrestle with sleep for that extra minute by nuzzling my face further in to T’Challa’s chest.

“Mmmh,” his hum turned into a laugh. “Good morning inzwakazi.” He clutched me tighter to him, his head resting atop mine comfortably.

“Gooo moormigg,” my words mumbled into his skin. I pulled myself from him with a sigh, relaxing into my wakefulness, and rolling on to my back, his arm still around my shoulders. “What time is it?”

“Almost nine.” His words came out as a whisper as he fell onto his back beside me, the fingers of the arm around my shoulders tickling my collarbone.

I scrunched my brow, “Wait, wasn’t your shift with me supposed to end at one or something? So you could go sleep?”

“It was,” he rubbed his face, “but when Clint came in to take over, I sent him away. I didn’t want to disturb you.” He smirked and turned his face to me, “And I was already so comfortable, I thought I would just sleep here. This does not bother you, yes?” It was more of a challenge than a question as he pushed towards me, his body tracing mine.

I shook my head, smiling at him as he looked down at me, thinking how perfect he was. The way he was looking at me, I thought he could be thinking the same thing.

“Kiss me?” 

He did, gently and soft as his lips touched mine, sticking together for moment in that weird way that lips do. He pressed harder into me, and I returned the gesture, deepening the kiss with out cheapening it. Not yet at least.

He pulled away from me, eyes slightly darkened. We paused for a moment before crashing together again, our lips parting this time, sending us into a flurry of tongues and lips and just a hint of teeth when I felt he needed it.

We parted at the knock at the door. He smirked, falling away from me, but keeping his hand on my hip.

“Yes?” he asked, in a tone far calmer than should be possible for someone who had just been making out. I pouted at the thought of not flustering him enough, I’d have to try harder next time.

_If he wants a next time_.

Wanda poked her head through my bedroom door, raising a brow at the sight of us in bed together, but choosing not to say anything about it at the moment. “We were just about to go down to breakfast, if you’d like to join us.”

T’Challa looked at me, silently asking if I’d like to go. My stomach answered my question before I could. The other two chuckled.

“I guess that’s a yes then,” Wanda laughed, “We’ll wait for you there.” She began to close the door, waiting for T’Challa’s back to turn before she mouthed an exaggerated ‘OH MY GOD’ at me and slammed the door shut.

“So,” the prince looked down at me again, “food?”

I nodded, sitting up. I pressed a firm kiss to his lips, all tongue and biting, before standing up. I pulled my sleep shirt off me as I walked to the closet filled with the clothes the royals had supplies me with. I pulled a green dress out, simple and light. _Cotton_ , I thought. I held it up in front of me and turned to the prince.

“What do you think?”

He couldn’t answer at first, just sat there smiling and looking over my bare legs.

“T?” I prodded, an innocent look on my face.

He was about to organize a suave answer, but I only sighed and turned away, slipping the comfortable tent dress over my head and pulling off my sleep shorts afterwards. _Gotta leave something to his imagination_.

I flipped my hair over my shoulders and fixed him with a smoldering look. “I hate underwear, don’t you?” I winked as I slipped on a pair of leather sandals and walked towards the door. “See you at breakfast, _your highness.”_ I turned and left, the image of his gaping mouth and wide eyes replying in my head. _I bet he’s flustered now._

Ever since that morning, it was decided that the soon-to-be-king himself would be taking on most night watches for a while since, as Clint pointed out at breakfast, “it’d be even harder for Erik to grab her while she’s cuddling the Black Panther.” Even though that earned him a sharp smack from me, no one could say that he was wrong.

I started spending a majority of my time with the super hero, mostly at nights when all his work was done, but sometimes he would sneak away from his responsibilities and take me out to lunch in the garden. It was nice to be close to him, in more ways than one… Although we had yet to be— well— _intimate_ , I was enjoying his lingering touches, his gentle kisses, his _not_ gentle kisses. It all made my heart flutter.

“Hello? Hello, are you still with me?”

I snapped out of my trance, my eyes meeting Sam’s playful glare. I returned the look, raising a brow at him.

“Come on, Princess,” he hissed, “I know you’ve been enjoying your rest, but it’s time to get back on your feet.”

I smirked at him, jumping up on the combat mat and quickly swiping a leg beneath him, knocking him flat on his ass.

“Funny, I could say the same thing to you.”

Dr. Anola had given me the go ahead to train again this week, and every member of the team had volunteered to help me get back in shape, although for most of them that meant an opportunity to knock me down while I was still weak, and people like Sam were not up to miss that chance.

My gloating was short lived as the soldier’s arm grabbed my ankle out from under me, sending me to the floor beside him. We wrestled on the mat until he had pinned me under his weight.

He leaned down to me ear, before whispering “Say it.”

I grunted and tried to throw him off me, but he held firm.

He laughed, “Come on, Sparks, call uncle. Just say it and then this is all over.”

I twisted again, this time managing to get a hand free. I reached up to his arm, watching his eyes widen as realization hit him.

“N—.”

He couldn’t finish the word as I zapped him, making him flinch away from me. I took the opportunity to push him off me and roll to the other side of the mat, standing at its edge, looking at the disgruntled soldier as he rubbed his arm.

“We agreed no powers,” he grumbled.

I scoffed, “We agreed _nothing,_ Wilson. I was just being nice.” I took a swig from my water bottle, wiping sweat from my brow. “I’m gonna run to the bathroom.”

He stood, looking at his watch. “Alright, I’m timing it, sixty seconds.”

I rolled my eyes as I hurried away. I remember wanting to pull Scott’s eyes out when he had pointed out that the team couldn’t exactly watch me while I went to the bathroom, leaving me vulnerable to Erik’s clutches. _Clutches_ , I rolled my eyes again at the memory. Once this was brought to the attention of the team, and after a few carefully placed calls to Bruce, it was decided that Erik’s portal took about a minute to materialize once he picked a point for them to lead to. So, as long as I wasn’t alone in a closed room for more than a minute, he couldn’t open a portal there fast enough. They also decided that I couldn’t hurt myself too much in a minute if Erik decided to pay a visit to my mind. Long story short: they timed my piss.

I rushed back to Sam on the mat, still looking at his watch as I approached. He nodded, clearly impressed.

“Forty-two seconds, nicely done.”

I made a disgusted face to hide the flush on my cheeks, “Shut up, Wilson.”

He walked me back to the main house, about three minutes from the gym, the whole way talking about what he thought we should be having for dinner.

“I’m telling you,” he continued as we walked up the stairs of T’Challa’s wing to the common room, “When was the last time you had a hot dog?”

“I’m a vegetarian, Sam, I don’t eat hot dogs,” I replied dryly.

“Whaaa—.”

“Sam you’ve know this since you met me.”

“I think I would’ve r—.”

“No, Sam.”

“But I—.”

“No.”

“Yo—.”

“ _No_.”

His laugh was infectious as it rang through the hallway. He swung an arm over my shoulders, “I almost tricked you that time. You though I forgot didn’t you?”

I shook my head, “You do this every day, of course you didn’t trick me.”

“For a second, I did.”

I looked at him, his puppy dog smile fixed in his eyes. I caved, “Alright, Sam, maybe for a second.”

He let out a hearty laugh, coming up behind me and swinging me up in his arms, lifting me over the last few stairs onto our floor. He set me down with a huff, and slung his arm around me again, turning the corner to find Clint face-timing with his family in the living room.

We quieted down and waved to him, trying not to disrupt his call. He waved back, smiling at us as we crept past him, making our way towards our rooms.

“I’m gonna jump in the shower,” I whispered to him as we turned the corner.

He nodded, “I’ll go get Wanda.”

“No, that’s alright, I’ll grab her.” I stopped at her door as Sam continued down the hall to his. I knocked twice, both Sam and I waiting for her door to open.

“Yeah?” she asked opening her door, “Ah, yes.”

I smiled at her, knowing that she knew why I was knocking.

She stepped out of her room in sweat pants and a loose tee shirt, glancing down the hall to Sam and giving him a wave, signaling the successful hand off and releasing him of his watch with me. I felt so guilty, troubling all of them like this, but there wasn’t much else to be done about it.

She and I walked to my room, chatting softly about how our days had been going, and making various jokes about how uneventful life is. I had gotten quite close to her over the past weeks, as she was the only other female team member here, and was thus the only one capable of protecting me during things like— well— this.

“Ok, one minute.” She looked at her watch as I stepped into the bathroom.

I stripped quickly, and stepped into the shower, lathering and rinsing my body in record time.

“Ten seconds!” she called, from just outside the door.

I rinsed the last suds from my body as she called time and stepped into the bathroom, handing me a robe. I took it from behind the shower curtain and slipped it on before stepping out in front of her. I sat on the toilet and turned myself around so she could wash my hair in the sink. We had become used to the process after we decided that it was just too hard for me to deal with my hair on my own in sixty seconds.

“So,” she started, smirking as she rubbed sweet soap in my hair, “I heard you were going somewhere tonight.”

I blushed and smiled at her, “And how’d you find that out?”

She laughed, “Nothing happens around here! This is the biggest news I’ve heard.”

“And you heard it from…?”

She raised her brow, “You know I can’t give you my source. I was sworn to secrecy.” She wrung my hair in her hands, “But I do hope that I get to help you get ready.”

“Of course! I don’t know what I’d do with out you.”

She grinned as she helped me sit up and handed me my razor, “Well, start with this, I think you’ll want to wear something short tonight.”

I nodded and started shaving carefully as she watched me, making sure I wasn’t doing anything dangerous with the sharp tool in hand, just in case I wasn’t quite myself in the moment.

“Well, I must say I think I’m going to miss these times with you since after tonight,you might be showering with _someone else_.”

I rolled my eyes at her and rinsed the razor once I had shaved every necessary part of my body. “Don’t you go getting my hopes up now. He might want to wait.”

She gawked at me in surprise, “Have you seen the way he looks at you? And now he gets you reservations at the nicest restaurant in his country? Oh yeah, he wants wait, sure.”

I smirked at her again, slipping out of the bathroom to put on clean clothes. “Well if you really think I’m getting laid tonight, why don’t you help me get ready at around five? You know I suck at curling my hair.”

“You do.”

“Is that a yes?”

She nods.

“Good. Well, then I’m gonna go out and watch some mindless television in the living room.”

———————————————————————————————————————

“You’re sure they’re in there?” Wanda asked as I left.

I rolled my eyes at her, “Yes, Wan. Steve and Bucky are always in the living room at three. That’s where they take their shift with me. Don’t worry, you can go back to reading your book for a while, you don’t have to walk me the seven yards to my next supervisors.”

She smiled at that, clearly happy to get back to her book. “All right, I’ll see you at five then. In your room?”

I nodded, “Sounds good to me, I’ll see you there.”

We both turned and went our separate ways: her to her room, and I to the living room where, lo and behold, Steve and Bucky sat waiting for me.

I smiled as I crossed to them, settling myself snuggly between the two soldiers. Steve shot me a half hearted annoyed smirk as he scooted over to give me more room so that I wasn’t practically sitting on their laps, but Bucky just let me settle into his side, even throwing his right arm over my small shoulders as he remained completely engrossed in the film playing on the screen.

I leaned slightly over to Steve. “Vertigo?” I questioned, referring to the movie.

He nodded, “Figured the jerk could use some Hitchcock in his education. It’s not like they let him watch this stuff while he was with Hydra. And it’s definitely one of my favorites now since Banner introduced it to m—.”

“Sh, sh, sh,” Bucky hushed him as he pulled me back into his side and watched the movie more intensely, trying not to miss a single word. I smiled at his commitment to the film, as it was one of my favorites as well, and I was happy that he seemed to be enjoying it. I was happy that he was happy, in truth. It was something I hadn’t expected; growing so close to Bucky in his recovery, although it didn’t come as a complete surprise. With the exception of Steve, I was the one who knew the most about him, before and after his turn with Hydra.

Steve and I became his support team while he was here. Sure, he was getting along fine with most of the others; sparring with Sam, reading books recommended by Clint, but most of his time was spent with Steve and I. The two of them had agreed to take a two hour shift, watching me from three to five. We would sit in the living room and try to catch each other up on the events the others might have missed. It became our sacred space for those two hours, whether we were watching movies, listening to music, or talking about our various nightmares from the night before (a conversation that came up frequently).

I think it helped all of us, but Bucky showed the most change. He had been out of Hydra’s hands for years now, and even if his memories were coming back slowly, he had adapted to this new society rather quickly. It all started to show once he realized he could be comfortable around Steve and I, and slowly the rest of the team as well. I could see it in Steve’s eyes when a fragment of his old friend came back to the surface. Even now, as Bucky continued to snuggle me against him, I could see Steve’s eyes glimmer at the memory of his Bucky, _the ladies man_. It was nice to see them together like this. I’m sure the fanfic writers back home would go nuts if they saw this stuff, insisting it was the impending ‘Stucky’ that they’d all been waiting for. And although I personally would _love to see some of that_ , I knew their relationship was a different one.

“No,” Bucky breathed, and it actually took me a minute to realize he was talking to the movie. I laughed as he slid his arm from behind me to lean forward on the couch. “But she’s—?”

“Mhm,” Steve answered.

“Then what’s—?”

“You’ll see,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest, as if I was keeping the ending of one of the most popular movies as my own personal secret.

He looked back at me and smirked, settling back into my side, feigning nonchalance, but his eyes gave away his commitment to the story. His years of training kept his body from giving in to the thrill of the story, but here, comfortable with Steve and I in our sacred space, his eyes told all.

“Well damn,” he spoke softly as the movie ended, letting himself relax further into the couch.

“Good, right?” I prodded, poking him in the side. I saw a flash of panic in his eyes at the sudden intrusion, but it was gone as soon as it came, replaced with a breathless smile and nod. Nevertheless, I decided not to try to tickle the super soldier any time soon. “Tomorrow I should show you guys Rear Window. Another Hitchcock with Jimmy Stewart.”

Steve smiled and nodded, “It’s a date.” He looked at Bucky, “Didn’t that actress remind you of that girl that always asked you to dance with her at the hall?”

Bucky’s eye brows furrowed, thinking for a minute. “Did she… wear those tight little skirts?”

Steve nodded, silently celebrating the recovery of yet another memory. “Yeah, and you would always take one look at her and tell her that if—.”

“If I danced with her, that skirt would split wide open, and then—.”

“We’d have a real situation on our hands,” they finished together, laughing.

“Yeah,” Bucky mused, “yeah, she was somethin’.”

I could tell he was thinking about where she might be now, if she was still alive or not. It was a reasonable thought to follow any of their old memories, but it always seemed to bring the both of them down.

“I’m not surprised she kept asking you though, Buck,” I teased, drawing his attention, “From what I hear, you were a pretty exceptional dancer.” I quirked a brow at him, signaling a blush.

“Yeah, well that was a long time ago…” he trailed off.

“Well maybe you could show me what you remember?” I asked before looking at the clock, and seeing that it was just about five o'clock already, “but tomorrow, your shift with me is up for today. Besides,” I smirked at him, “I’d love to see if you live up to the rumors.”

He chuckled at that, a reserved laugh, but a laugh all the same; something that was happening more and more with each passing day. “Well doll, maybe I’ll take you up on that offer.”

My brows shot up and my jaw dropped, “ _Doll_?” I fanned myself vigorously with my hands and took dramatically exaggerated breaths. “Steve, did you hear what your friend just called me? _Doll_? My word, what a forward gentleman… I just can’t stand it.” I started to get up, still acting incredibly offended, but not trying to fight the smile that had fixed itself to my lips.

Bucky just sat back and rolled his eyes at me, but he was smiling more than he usually did. “Well if I’ve offended you so much,” he stood from the couch and was suddenly very close to me. I don’t know who was more surprised by our proximity, but neither of us moved. He finished, “I might as well walk you home.”

I nodded silently, still somewhat stunned.

Neither of us moved.

“ _Alright_ ,” Steve interjected, standing and placing a hand on each of our shoulders. “We should get you back to your room,” he stated, looking at me, “So you can get ready for your _date._ ” I could see his hand tighten on Bucky’s shoulder as he stressed the word.

I smiled and laughed, knowing that Bucky and I were only playing even if Steve was oblivious to the fact. We were both flirts, brainwashed or not, it was in our nature.

I lead the way to my room, opening the door to find Wanda waiting in my sitting room waiting for me already.

“See you tomorrow, boys!” I called over my shoulder before going to close the door, but I stopped myself before it could click shut, hearing their hushed voices carry through the hallway.

“Really? Seventy years and you’re _still_ chasing after taken girls?”

I laughed and closed the door, turning to Wanda with a grin, “Let’s get started.”

———————————————————————————————————————

Two hours later, I stood in front of Wanda for final checks. Her thinned eyes and pursed lips scanned me up and down as I turned for her.

“Perfect.”

I beamed at her, “You really think so?”

She laughed, “Of course.” She placed her hand on my shoulder and looked at me with heartfelt eyes. She had really become an older sister to me, a friend, an ally. She pulled me into a tight hug. “I’m sorry for what my brother did,” she whispered in my ear, taking me by surprise, “I know he would’ve loved to see you like this.” She pulled away, looking me over again before smirking. “Then again, what man wouldn’t.”

I grinned at her and ran to the floor length mirror in the bathroom to look at what she had laid out for me. I was wearing a slick black cocktail dress with a wide neck and a short hem. My shoes were black and high as the empire state in a shining patent leather. The whole look was finished off by a simple red lip and full mascara and my hair was pulled back in a low bun, with delicately curled tendrils hanging loose around my face.

I had to say, I was pleased with the final product.

Wanda appeared in my peripheral vision, “And just wait until he sees what’s underneath the dress…”

I smirked at her, knowing how right she was. My closet had—mysteriously—been filling with more and more expensive and luxurious lingerie since T’Challa had started staying overnight. At first it was just beautiful little silk chamises to wear as I laid next to him at night, but then lacy bras, garter belts, beautiful pieces just kept popping up. And I couldn’t bring myself to think of it as a coincidence.

I heard a knock on my door and the both of us froze.

“Go!” Wanda ushered after a moment, “Go, go, go, go, go!” She pushed me towards the door, almost making me fall over in my heels as she hid in my bedroom.

I righted myself and opened the door slowly, _sensuously_ , to find my date standing on the other side. And boy did he look good.

I tried not to gasp at his appearance. He looked clean cut and powerful in a well fitted suit over a white shirt. I couldn’t wait to get it off him. I noticed his eyes raking over me in a similar fashion, clearly pleased by my choice of dress, earning me a well deserved smirk.

“You look lovely.” He bowed his head and let his hand float down to mine, lifting it to his mouth and placing a tender kiss to my knuckles. I blushed under his gaze. “Shall we go?” he asked, as he threaded my arm through his.

I nodded, a smile still stuck on my face, as he lead me through the palace and into a waiting limousine, speeding us into the night.

I couldn’t exactly tell where we were going, what with the blacked out windows and the very attractive prince leaving careful hickies just under the neckline of my dress, but I could tell that the drive was longer than I had expected and by the glimpses of ever thickening jungle, I didn’t think we were anywhere near anyone else. It made me wonder what kind of restaurant we could possibly be going to. The car slid to a stop after a little less then an hour of driving, and T’Challa pulled me from the high quality leather seats out into the world again.

I stepped from the car in awe, clutching T’Challa’s hand for balance as I gazed at the vista before us. We were high on the top of a cliff overlooking what must’ve been miles and miles of dense jungle. In the center of the clearing sat a small white-tablecloth-clad table and two chairs nestled intimately together facing the view.

“Oh,” I breathed, “so I guess no restaurant…”

He chuckled at my reaction, folding my hand into his as he lead me towards the table. “I thought I’d bring the restaurant somewhere a little more private. Here,” he pulled out my chair for me as I sat and he gracefully slid into the other. His eyes were fixed on me as I looked over the tops of all the trees.

I could feel his stare on the side of my face and smiled. “How are you not looking at the view?”

“I am.”

I turned to glare at him, a smirk playing at my lips. “Horrible. That was horrible and cheesy and you should be ashamed of yourself.”

He snickered, his nose scrunching in that way that made made my heart swell.

“You’re right,” he answered after a moment. “How about I make it up to you with dinner?”

A couple of servers that had remained hidden in the dark behind the limousine suddenly burst forth with drinks and food pouring out all night long. T’Challa would stop and explain each dish as it came out, telling me what was in it and how to eat it, making sure to watch my reaction as I tried his favorites. The night was growing longer as the sun set behind the meadows of trees in front of us, washing us in golden red light as we snuggled into each other, nursing our swollen bellies.

He kissed me when the sun finally set. It was sweet and lingering, with the taste of dessert still stuck on our lips. His arm wrapped tighter over my shoulders as he felt me shiver and pull away in the brisk dusk air.

“Come.” I knew it sounded like an invitation in his head, but it rang through my ears like the most delicious order I had ever heard.

I followed him into the car, our path lit by the lanterns that mysteriously appeared when the sun sunk under the mountains. T’Challa pulled me past them, practically throwing me into the car as it whisked us away again, this time back to the palace. He was on top of me as soon as the doors closed, all my lipstick already worn off by the night’s kisses. He pressed me down to lie on the seat as he held himself over me, his lips crashing against mine and his hands gripping my hips tighter at ever sharp corner the car turned.

“ _Khawuleza_ ,” T’Challa called out, and I hoped to god he was talking to the driver because I had no idea what he had said. “Don’t worry, uthando lwam, we’ll be back soon.” He nuzzled into my neck, nipping at my skin.

We pulled in front of the palace not forty minutes since we had left the cliffside. I looked at T’Challa in surprise as we passed by the clock at the door.

“They don’t stop your car for speeding when you own the country,” he explained, never stoping as he continued to pull me up the stairs to his wing, past the living room (which just happened to be occupied by Steve, Bucky, and Clint, not that you stopped to acknowledge them), and finally down the hallway and into your suite because, as much as he had wanted to, taking me into his suite would’ve required a whole new security detail, since we’d both be asleep most of the night.

It all seemed to come to a crashing halt once we stepped inside. He slid the door shut, carefully closing it without a sound and switching the latch, locking it. I watched him from the center of my sitting room as he slowly turned to me, his eyes running over my frame like water before coming up to meet my gaze. His smirk was gone now, replaced by a look of pure lust. I felt my breath catch in my throat as he stalked towards me, stopping just in front of me; his right hand resting on my hip, while his left caressed my cheek.

“Are you alright with this?” he asked, his eyes searching mine for any worry or doubt. “Are you alright with—all of this?”

I couldn’t keep myself from nodding if I had tried. He smiled and went to kiss me, but I turned my head, directing his lips to my jaw. I spun in his arms as his lips lead down my neck and I hummed when they got to the top of my spine.

“Hey, T?” I asked, using my nickname for him.

He stopped his kisses and wrapped his arms tighter around me, “Yes?”

I looked at him over my shoulder. “Unzip me?” I asked next, still facing away from him.

He didn’t answer, but I felt his fingers whisper over my back to the top of the dress. He grasped the pull and slowly— painfully slowly— dragged it down my back.

“UQamata…” he moaned when he saw what I was wearing underneath.

I let the dress crumple to my feet, and I stepped out of it dexterously, finally coming to face him again and letting him take all of me in.

His gaze fell first on my shoes, up my nude-stockinged legs, over the garters, along the black lace corset, to my chest, and ending at my face.

I was glad I could render him so speechless.

I swayed my hips as I walked to the foot of my bed, knowing that he was following close behind. He turned me back to him ferociously. His lips were on mine again, his hands tearing through the laces at the back of the corset until it was loose enough for him to pull it down my legs, stockings and shoes following it as he pushed my on to the bed and yanked them off as well.

He threw me high up on the bed and we both rushed to rid him of his layers pulling off jacket, tie, shirt, pants, and boxers in what must’ve been a record time. In another second, he was on top of me, kissing me breathless, wasting no time as he tease my entrance with his slick tip.

He stopped for a moment, his primal nature sated for a second by a rational thought: “Condom?”

“Birth control.”

He slid home in a single thrust, groaning in pleasure. He slid in and out at a pace that had my heart melting within me and pooling in the back of my ribcage. His lips were on mine and then they were gone, traveling anywhere they could reach as he brought me closer to my peak.

I came first, followed swiftly by him, and we collapsed on the mattress together, completely spent and ready for sleep.


	27. Goodbyes

“Sh, sh, it’s alright,” he stroked my hair as I shook in his arms, wrecked by yet another nightmare from the man who was trying to steal my life. I quivered under the memory of _his_ face in my mind, seared into the backs of my eyelids. I could still feel the stinging blow of his fist against my face as he beat me in my dream again and again. I could hear his voice ring through the room as he told me that I belonged to him and _only_ him. I couldn’t breath, I couldn’t think, and now I couldn’t remember a time when I was this scared.

It wasn’t the hitting that frightened me. It wasn’t even his anger. I had seen worse of both regards. I knew how to face that. What got to me was the way he left me. After he had beat me, he looked at me as I laid on the ground, bleeding and broken. His eye’s went from livid to sad for just a fraction of a moment. Then it was gone, and he looked calm— indifferent almost. He wouldn’t meet my gaze. For the first time, he looked at me like I was nothing but a piece of meat. I wasn’t his little dove, I wasn’t his soldier, I wasn’t the fruit of his wonderful experiment. No, now I was nothing more than a disappointment. Someone he had lost all control over. And as he looked at me, I felt true fear race through me for the first time that night. He broke me, with a single muttered word: “Enough.”

He was done with me. And there is nothing more frightening than someone with nothing left to lose.

“T—T’Challa? Can you go get Wanda?” I asked, looking up at him with eyes wide as saucers. She could help, get in my brain somehow. His own eyes grew at my question, his worry noticeably doubling. He nodded quickly, slipping on his boxers, and running off, sprinting towards her door.

I sat back in the bed, trying to calm my rapid heartbeat, twisting my shaking hands in the sheets. I focused my breath, in and out, in and out. I could feel there was something about to happen. I could tell that this nightmare wasn’t just a nightmare, something was up, I just didn’t know what.

I could hear their footsteps in the hallway as they rushed towards me and I let out a sigh of relief. I stood from the bed and went to meet them at the door to my bed room, my hand lingering on the frame.

That’s when the change came.

I shut the door and locked it.

I heard T’Challa’s confused voice calling my name from the other side of the door. The knob jiggled as he tried to open it. “Are you alright?”

_No._ “Yes,” I called out, “I just wanted to change into a nightgown, real quick. I’ll be done in a second.” These weren’t my words. I was screaming in my head for them to come in and save me, screaming for Wanda to break her rule and look into my head.

My legs dragged me into my bathroom, grabbing the slip I usually wore to bed from it’s place hanging on the knob of the closet as I went, and locking that door behind me. I sat on the edge of my bathtub and waited, staring blankly at the wall. I could hear the two of them talking to each other faintly through the layers of walls, their muted murmurs piercing the quiet around me.

“Are you done?” I hear his voice call out.

“We need to come in now, you’ve been in there too long.” That was Wanda.

I didn’t answer. It was only a little longer.

“Something’s wrong.”

_Yes_.

I heard the door to my room kicked open as the wall in front of me began to swirl with purple light. Their footsteps got closer and closer, one of them looking over the balcony, the other noticing the closed bathroom door.

A fist banged on the door.

“No!” T’Challa roared.

It had opened now, the light swirling in front of me. I felt a tear slide down my face as I stood, stepping towards the portal. I got one last look of the door as it burst open, T’Challa standing behind it all muscles and worry.

I found my own voice in a flicker of control, “I’m sorry.”

“No!” he yelled as I stepped through the portal and into Erik’s arms. I looked up at him and saw that same look of indifference, of detachment, corrupted by a flicker of disappointment, and I knew that this time he had me, really had me.

And he wasn’t letting go.

———————————————————————————————————————

I woke I was limp on a cot in a room I’d never seen before. I could barely open my eyes, let alone turn my head, as I laid, powerless, staring at an empty ceiling. It had been hours before I finally heard someone come through the door. The footsteps came towards me, closer and closer until hands slid under me, lifting me from the bed.

“Do you know what really gets to me?” Erik asked. He cradled me in his arms as he walked me out of the room and down a brightly lit hallway. I was limp, unable to even turn my head to look at him, and utterly powerless. “I gave you everything,” he continued. “I gave you this life. You know your heroes because of _me_. You have your powers because of _me_. You owe everything you have here to _ME_.” He stopped, sighed, and returned his voice to a regular speaking volume. “I even sit around while you seduce the very men I’m trying to destroy. And I couldn’t get mad at you for that. It was your job. I curated you for a very specific purpose: to be adored, and to die. I knew I couldn’t get too close to you, I knew it wasn’t going to work.” He shifted me in his arms, jostling my head so I could see where we were going, but ahead of us was nothing but a bare white hallway and a set of grey double doors.

“But when we found the soldier, and a man willing to risk everything to bring them down,” I could feel his pride in the swell of his chest. “It was like everything had fallen into place. With you gone for a while we could refocus our energy, and I thought when you got back—,” the double doors opened for us automatically, and he walked us into darkness, “—then you would be mine.”

Fluorescent lights boomed on in the echoing space, slowly illuminating the large room. He carried me up three steps to a raised platform in the center of the room and set me down in front of a metal table that I recognized immediately, even though the memory had been buried in my mind for over a year.

“Stay,” he commanded, leaving me swaying in front of the table on which they had tortured me for hours until they perfected the way to control me and refine my portal granted powers.

Everything in me wanted to run, not even to try and escape, just to get as far from this room as physically possible. But I was frozen to my spot, Erik’s control over me cemented in my brain.

I could see him from the corner of my eye as his swept the outer edge of the room, pressing buttons and turning dials. I lost sight of him as he circled around to the side of the room that I wasn’t facing, coming to rest by what I could only assume was a computer, or at least a keyboard, from all the clicking.

“Get on the table,” came his voice again. I felt my body pulse towards the table, but my feet stayed planted where they were. Tears pricked my eyes at the discomfort of disobeying, and when his voice rang out again, calling me to “Get on the table!”

I couldn’t help but move. I cried as I sat on the cool surface, the touch of the metal on my bare legs making every hair on my body stand on end.

Or maybe that was the fear.

“Look,” he ordered, and I threw a glance his way, “over there.”

I followed his pointed finger to a portal frame on the other side of the room. A purple light began to swirl in the center, slow at first and then, faster and faster. It should’ve been familiar, the same thing I’d see every time I’d jump from universe to universe, but this time—.

“It looks different, doesn’t it?” Erik said, but I couldn’t look back at him as he spoke. I was too drawn to the light.

“The light you usually see, the _manufactured_ portal that Stark and Banner built you, that’s only got a fraction of the power this has. This was the first link from our world to yours, pure un-doctored bi-universal energy. This,” he walked to the side of the table I sat on, and I could feel him looking at me, even if I couldn’t bring my eyes to his, “is what gave you your powers.”

His hand slid up the side of my neck and I shivered under his touch. Fingers found the clasp of the charm I wore round my neck, the one that opened the portal, the one that Bruce and Tony made me. The charm clattered when it hit the floor. The portal started—pulsing— blinking. It seemed jumpy, booming around in it’s frame.

“Every other connection, every portal, every phone call, it’s all a product of this here. And now, now all that’s going to end.” His hand came up to wipe away a tear on my cheek as confusion and even greater fear flashed in my mind. I heard a trickle of a noise outside. “I wish I didn’t have to do this. I loved you. But now, seeing you so happy with them, I—.” A metallic clattering, but Erik didn’t seem to notice. “You were my creation, everything I wanted.” A sound, again, and this time he heard it too. A cry from the hallway. I struggled to find my voice, and only uttered a gasp, but it was enough to draw his attention away from the door to the hallway.

“What?” He uttered, surprised by my sound.

More clattering from the hall, closer this time. Gunshots, yells, boots on the ground, all drawing his gaze from me and back towards the door. In a burst of energy I drew my gaze from the light, even though drawing the effort to fix my eyes on him felt like running a marathon.

“I’m not _your_ anything.”

The doors from the hall burst open, a double door entrance for a deserving company. The Avengers stood in the frame, the _whole_ Avengers, in full battle regalia. I could practically hear the song playing behind them.

Pietro was, of course, the first to move, grabbing Erik and throwing him from the platform. I felt my feet move before I knew what was happening. Laying my hands on Pietro’s shoulders, I sent a shockwave through him that sent him crumbling to the floor.

“Shit.” I heard Bucky’s voice sigh behind me. Erik heard it too, and immediately struck up an idea, but Steve beat him to it.

“Don’t let him say anything!” the Captain commanded. “He knows Bucky’s words, don’t make us fight two of the team.”

The team charged at us, Wanda, lifting me in the air with a red glow, Vision encasing me in a golden ball. I saw Steve, Tony, and T’Challa grip Erik and throw him on the table where I had been sitting.

“You can’t stop it,” the scientist said, matter of factly.

“Stop what?” Steve questioned, holding him down. Erik glanced his eyes towards the flickering, banging portal.

“It’s closing.” T’Challa walked towards the portal.

“Don’t go through it!” Tony yelled, “just hold on.” He pressed a button on his suit and Bruce’s voice started echoing through the room.

“This is far more powerful than the ones we’ve created. The readings I’m being sent from Tony’s suit are off the charts. If it’s acting this way then it must be—.”

“The origin point.” Erik finished for him. “When this closes it all goes down. The phone lines snap, all the other portals the branches you’ve built, it all goes away. Any connection you have to that other universe is severed.”

“Tony,” Steve asked, without taking his eyes off of the madman.

“No he’s—,” Stark backed off. “Steve, he’s right. This portal closes and it all goes down. And finding it again it’s—.”

“Impossible.” Erik finished for him. “Among the infinite number of parallel universes finding hers again would be impossible.”

“Then stop it.” T’Challa commanded no one in particular. “Shut down the computers, turn it off, just— someone do something!” He tore off his mask and looked up at me. I felt Vision and Wanda lowering me to the floor, the realization of this new information sobering me from Erik’s control, the emotion draining me.

“We can’t,” came Bruce’s voice again from the speaker on Tony’s suit. “I can already see the repercussions on the servers here. Once the shut down is started theres no reversing it. I’m sorry.” No one seemed to know what to do, an eerie silence consuming our words while the portal whirred on.

“So, what now?” Pietro asked, still slumped on the floor.

“She must chose.” Vision’s voice was soft but definite, “To go through the portal or to stay.”

“We can figure this o—.”

“Natasha, she doesn’t have time,” Tony interrupted. The room looked at him. “She’s got maybe four minutes before that thing closes and she loses her family forever.”

I couldn’t move, I couldn’t even look at them, the power of the light increasing as its ebbed and flowed in its death. I’d have to leave them. My friends. The man I’d just begun to love. I had a rock on my chest and it was crushing me with every breath. I wanted to sink into the floor, to cease to exist. But I couldn’t.

I heard Steve call my name above me, but I couldn’t look up. He crouched to my level, taking my chin in his hand and tilting my face to look at his. His eyes were filled with tears. “You have to go.”

I shook my head, weeping on the floor of the foreign room.

“You’ve gotta get back to your family. You’ll be safe there.” He gathered me in a tight hug and squeezed the tears out of my eyes. “It’s a better life for you. You have to go home.” He half lifted me from my spot on the floor, and let me turn into T’Challa’s arms. I looked into his deep brown eyes, and saw the same sadness that possessed Steve. He kissed me, both our cheeks wet with tears.

“I love you.” His words only made me cry harder.

I saw Tony next, who gave me empty promises that they’d figure out a way to get me back. Then Bucky, who’s depressed detachment was almost too hard to bare. Wanda was in quiet tears when I got to her, as was Thor, both of them saying how much they valued me and would miss me. Vision, Rhodey, and Pietro gave me subtle, but tearful nods from across the room, followed by firm hugs from Clint and Scott and fatherly words of comfort. Wilson managed to keep himself together the best believe it or not, until he took me in his arms and proceeded to wail like a baby. I was finally pried from his arms by Natasha.

“It’s about time for you to get going baby girl.” The tears streaking her face unmasked her true emotions. She swept me into a long hug. “You know, if I had a little sister, I imagine she’d be like you.” She swept a hair behind my ear.

I nodded, still unable to speak, but tearful as the rest of them.

“It’s time,” Bruce’s voice came over the speakers, “You should go, you’ve only got about thirty seconds. It should drop you at the point where the portal first connected with you.” I nodded even though he couldn’t see and walked towards the portal. I stopped when I heard his voice again. “And,” he continued, “I’m so sorry. For everything.”

I turned, looking back at the team, the whole team, all of them standing around the table where Erik was still pinned. I looked at the scientist, and finally found my voice. “He brought me here to pull you apart. But here you all are.” I let out a breathy laugh. “You can’t be sorry. You don’t _get_ to be sorry. Not after what we’ve done. Not after what we’ve been through.” My eyes grazed over them. “I love each and every one of you. Even the ones who hurt me.” My eyes found Pietro’s and softened. “Even the ones I’d only begun to know.” I found T’Challa and smiled. “Bruce, you can’t be sorry, because you’ve given me more than I could’ve ever dreamed of. And I love you for that. I love all of you for that. I’ll never forget you. I promise.”

Steve came forward again to sweep me high into his arms. I could fear his tears dripping on to my shoulder, just as mine were dripping on his. I tangled my fingers into his hair, my closest friend, a man who might’ve one day become more than that. The one who knew me better than anyone else, in any universe.

“We will find you again,” he whispered into my neck, “I promise.”

I nodded as he set me down, taking one last look into his eyes.

I knew I couldn’t do it if I faced it. I knew I couldn’t willingly walk away from these people that I had come to call family. I looked at their tears. I looked at their forced smiles, like the sun that shines in a summer rain. I took a step backward. Then another. And one more. Until they were gone, and I was left looking at the Hudson river just before dawn, totally alone.

I watched the lights of the city reflect off the water. And I cried.


	28. Back Again

Four years since I walked through that last portal, I sat in the midst of a normal life. I was home after my final year of college, in the same bed I’d cried in with the arms of my mother wrapped tightly around me when I had to leave my heroes behind. 

But that was then, and now— life moved on. I was deep in my studies. I was with my family. I had put my old life behind me. I hid my powers behind a wall in my brain, I knew I had to shut them off, there’d be no explaining them away. 

And with the effort, came peace. 

But there was nothing I wouldn’t do for chance to go back. To see my heroes again. Even just to say a proper goodbye. I thought about it constantly at first, always waiting for the day when I’d come home and see Steve waiting for me. Or T’Challa, or Wanda, or Tony— all of them, any of them. But as the days turned into weeks, and months, and years, the hope faded. I built new hopes. I moved on. I still saw the movies. But I knew that my time there hd put the heroes on a different path.

Or so I thought.

To put it mildly, I was beyond astonished to see Benedict Cumberbatch appear in my bedroom.

“WHAT THE F—.”

With a wave of his hand he literally took the words out of my mouth and left me sputtering empty syllables at the air.“I’m gonna stop you right there.” He walked towards me, his hands raised in a show of trust.

My heart dropped as I looked more closely at the man walking past my closet. He was wearing a long red cape and his hair was slicked back. The shock gave way to logic and excitement quickly built in my heart. 

“My name is Doctor Strange,” he continued, shooting a quick glance towards my half open bedroom door and pushing it silently closed with a flick of his wrist. “I’m told you know something about the Avengers.”

I nodded fervently, tears pricking at my eyes. My heart was jumping out of my chest as I tried to find words.

“Oh right,” the Doctor waved his hand again and the words I’d been fighting for came flooding back to me.

“How did you find me? I thought the portal was closed? What’s happening?”

“Jesus, ok slow down there,” Strange, looked worriedly around the room, as if expecting my mother to come bursting through the door at any minute. “The science idiots were trying to find you the same way they lost you. The links were broken, yes, on the physical plain. But the energetic remnants are easy to track if you know how to look for them.” He came to sit beside me on the bed. “But that’s not important right now, right now we need your help.”

I nodded and leapt off the bed. I ran into the other room where my mother was answering emails. She looked up and read the look on my face. She stood and ran to me, watching the tears fall down my face and the smile wide across my cheeks.

“Go,” she said. And hugging me close to her body, she whispered, “Come back to me safe.” 

“I promise,” I told her, and went running back into my room. I flung open my closet door and grabbed my boots and a lightweight rain jacket. “So where are you?” I asked as I grabbed a hair band from my desk and pulled my hair back in a tight ponytail.

“Space,” Strange answered. “Well a planet in space. Titan.”

I froze for a moment, registering what that meant before rushing to grab a tote bag. "That's impossible."

"What are you talking about?"

"It's been years since I left— Titan was supposed to be years ago for you."

"Well, I don't know what to tell you." Strange sighed and sat on the bed, his cloak fluttering beneath him. "This is where we are."

I pocketed my worry for a later date, and continued to buzz around the room. “I can only assume this has something to do with Thanos then?"

The wizard nodded.

"Well, that’s not gonna be fun.” I threw a change of clothes into the bag along with my phone and a charger.

“You’re not gonna need all that,” Strange commented as he watched me rave around the room.

I rolled my eyes, “You know I learned my lesson from the first time— I’m not gonna be unprepared again.” I stopped and stood in front of him, back in hand and feet wedges into tightly laced boots. “Alright. I’m ready.”

Strange looked me up and down, bemused confusion painted all over his face as I stood at attention. “You really are kind of strange, aren’t you?”

I cocked my head and raised my eyebrows at his choice of words.

He pursed his lips, and nodded, “Fair enough. Well, alright then.” He came to stand beside me and stuck his hands out in front of him. In front of us, he painted a gold circle that sparked in the air.

I felt my heart speeding inside my chest, my breath catching high in my throat. I felt his cloak brushing against my arm, as if it was trying to hold my hand. I lifted my chin and steadied my breathing. I didn’t realize that I had been waiting for this. But I had been, everyday, just waiting for the chance to come back to that life I had known, to the people I’d loved. 

And now I was going back. 

And I was terrified. 

———————————————————————————————————————

I followed Strange through the portal and out into the yellow rocky planet. We came out on a rise, overlooking the smoking remains of a crashed spaceship and the ruins of a civilization that had long ago left the surface of the barren planet. And at the front of the smoldering remains of the spaceship was a small group of people, standing all together and arguing. 

I set my bag mindlessly onto the rubble beside me and walked down the hill in a daze, drawn impossibly to the group at the base of the rise. Strange this time followed in my wake, floating behind me as I picked my way over the rocks and the scraps of metal that littered the ground.

The raised voices rang clearer with every step I took towards the group. I saw all the expected characters, Peter Quill, Drax, Mantis, Nebula, as well as Peter Parker, and one of the men I’d so long been hoping to see. One of the men that had filled my dreams with far fetched solutions and hopes and jokes.

“Tony.”

The scientist whirled around to face me while the rest of the group quieted. The hush that fell over the planet reminded me how dead it was. Tony walked towards me, dumbfounded and silent as the grave. 

His eyes left mine and fell to the Doctor behind me. “What the hell have you done.” He rushed towards the taller man.

“Tony!” I called again, the confusion and hurt crowding my throat with emotion.

“No, no you were out, you were safe! And you,” he turned back to Doctor Strange. “You brought her back here? Now? When the whole universe could turn to shit any moment?”

“Who even is this chick?” Quill spoke up from the group in front of me.

“It doesn’t matter,” Tony replied, “She’s not staying.”

“Wait, what?! Tony, I—.”

He ignored me. “How did you even get her here, huh?” he berated the doctor. “Bruce and I spend years, years, trying to get her back. Trying to rebuild that link. And there’s nothing, for years there’s nothing. And you—.” His voice cracked and faltered. “You just find her? In minutes? You pull her out of thin air?”

“Tony, I told you. You shouldn’t be trying to track inter dimensional travel through physical links, they’re too flighty. It’s a miracle the one she came though the first time lasted so long. I found her by following the path of disturbance energy, the changes she makes leave a trail of you know how to look for it.”

“No, you—.” Tony lowered his voice to a menacing tone. “You don’t get to tell me, what I did wrong!” He was shouting now, the small group and I shrinking into the background nervously. 

“Ok, we don’t have time for this.” Strange closed the distance between the two of them. “You told me we had access to the only person who can change how things play out. I went through every possible option with the time stone and nothing works. So yes, I was going to reach out to what the stone couldn’t see. And she knows! She knows what’ll happen.”

“So you’re putting her at risk in a battle that’s not hers to fight, in a universe she owes nothing to.” 

“‘Owes nothing too?’” Strange rolled his eyes. “Please she left this universe with astronomical powers.”

“Oh powers! You think powers justifies pulling her back into this!”

“Well, you’ve got a teenager standing behind you, what do you think he owes this universe?”

A blast of yellow energy shot from Tony’s glove and threw the Doctor back to the top of the rise. Strange caught the energetic pulse between his hands and prepared to launch it back at Stark, whose suit had redeployed its full battle armor. 

“Stop!” I ran between the two of them. “Jesus, stop it.”

Strange let the energy fizzle our between his hands, but Stark wouldn’t lower his defenses.

“Tony.” I pleaded with him, “Strange is right. I can help. I’ve been waiting to get back here, and like it or not, you need me right now.”

Stark wouldn’t give up his stance, his hand still aimed at Strange.

I sighed and crossed to stand directly in front of him. “Tony, take your mask off.” 

There was no movement.

“Tony...” My voice was soft and shaken as I pleaded with him. 

With a click the mask slid up off his face and collapsed into the back of his suit, but his eyes and guns were still trained on Strange. 

I put my hand on his shoulder and finally his gaze fell to me, his eyes rimmed with tears. I threw my arms against his neck and he caught me, the both of us falling to our knees as we held each other for the first time in years. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered into my hair. “I’m so sorry. We tried— we tried to find you. Steve and I, we even brought the team back together. All of us were trying to find you.” 

I shook my head and pulled away from him. “No,” I hiccuped through a tear streaked smile. “No, it doesn’t matter. I’m back, I got back. And I’m going to save you.” I looked past him at the group of guardians behind him. “I’m going to save all of you.”

The explanation did take some time.

“Ok, so you’re telling me this girl is from another universe, knows the future, and is going to save all of us.” Quill seemed to have grasped only the basic facts of the break down, but Tony, Strange, and I all nodded with the satisfaction that he had picked up everything he needed to know.

“You’re the one from the airport that day, right?” Parker spoke up, from his perch on a high rock. “The one that fought with Steve.”

I bristled at the memory, especially sitting beside Tony, but nodded. “Yes, I was with the team for the accords fight, and before that in Sokovia.” I stood and addressed the group as I had when I first explained what I was doing there. “But we don’t have much time left. And this is the closest anyone will come to stopping Thanos.”

“Really?” Nebula’s voice rang out from across the group. “This is the band of idiots that comes closest to killing my father?” 

I winced and shrugged, “Yeah, it wasn’t what I expected either, but still— this is the best shot we’ve got.” 

“Ok, well where do we lose, what do we do wrong?” Quill looked at me with expectant eyes and I felt pity well in my chest.

I shifted my eyes to Mantis, who was already reading my face with expert care. “You are the most important part of this mission,” I told her. “You’re the one that gets Thanos to rest long enough for the rest of us to get that gauntlet off of his arm.” 

She looked immediately panicked, and I went over to kneel by her side.

“But you can’t say anything. You can’t tell us what anyone else is thinking— especially not him,” I paused and read her eyes again as they widened, “and especially not me.”

An air of suspicion wove through the group. 

“And why’s that?” Quill asked, his interest piqued. He stood and crossed to my position on the ground, looking down at me. “What exactly would she be telling us?”

I stood to meet him, but still found myself making up the head of height difference in eye contact. “Nothing you won’t know after we get that glove off his arm.” I watched his eyes flick with distrust, but I didn’t have time to explain everything now. “I’ll tell you everything afterwards, I promise.”

I turned away from him, returning to my seat on the toppled steel beam between Stark and Strange, nodding to the Doctor as I passed the torch to him.

“Ok, so here’s the plan...”

———————————————————————————————————————

I laid in wait behind a wall of sand and stone, slowly working to bring a small rock off the surface of the planet and slowly back down. 

_The gravity is different here_ , I thought. 

It had a strange bounce to it, a lightness that was largely unnoticeable until I focused on it. The rock sprang off the ground again and I turned it, once, twice in the air before bringing it gently back to the ground. My focused flexed at the sudden use of my powers, all the pent up energy streaming out slowly, but powerfully, from the small hole I’d poked in the wall I’d built two years prior. 

_This is not how I thought my night would go._

I lifted the rock again, turned it once, twice, and then zapped it with a sudden small jolt of electricity that sent it flying up towards the hill in front of me, bouncing three times on the surface before coming to rest just a few feet off from the top. 

_I was going to go for a walk. I was going to watch TV. I was going to talk to my family. I was going to make popcorn._

I found another rock nearby and lifted it like the first, turning it once, twice, and then blasting it again, sending it too towards the hill and bouncing to land just above it’s brother. 

_But now I’m here. Impossibly. Unbelievably._

I found a third rock, larger than the other two, lifting it and watching it turn, slowly once, twice, and the zapping it with a greater charge than before. The rock soared high above the hill, reaching up into the sky for just a moment before clattering down the opposite side, rolling loudly until it came to a slow stop.

_And I’m not sure how exactly I’m supposed to get back._

A whirling sounded through the space. My heart stopped. _He was here._

I could hear Strange’s voice from over the ridge behind me. Talking to him, distracting him. I crouched into a ready position, my heart racing again as I prepared for battle. Above me I saw a speck growing ever larger— Tony, pushing a discarded spacecraft out of orbit. 

Thanos hadn’t noticed yet. He didn’t realize the trap that had been set for him. Not yet.

Strange’s voice echoed through the space again. “I think you’ll find our will equal to yours.”

Tony was close now, I could almost hear the thunder of his descent. 

“Our?” 

I crept around the corner of my hiding spot just in time to watch Thanos turn his face towards the sky and crumpled beneath the forced of the rusted space craft, and we leapt into action.

Tony circled around our perimeter as Thanos burst from the ship’s carcass. Parker came next, thwacking a thick webbing across the Titan’s eyes. Drax sprang into action, coming up from behind and slashing at the back of Thanos’s legs. Strange powered up a strand of energy as he attacked the titan. Thanos was thrown off balance, stumbling between the onslaught of Drax’s knives and Strange’s energetic blows.

That was my cue.

I ran from my cover behind the sheet of rock, throwing a powerful charge at the titan’s chest. Drax, Strange, and I staggered our blows to volley the enemy’s attention from side to side. He wasn’t weakening, but he was definitely angry now. A second later, the red cloak that hung around the doctor’s shoulders flew off to twine itself around the infinity gauntlet on Thanos’s hand.

I saw Strange backing off in my peripheral vision, preparing for the next strange idea attack as Drax and I fought to keep Thanos busy.

A gold portal opened above my head and Parker flew through the air above me, shooting a web at the titan before disappearing into another portal. Next he appeared above Drax, swinging through the air again and this time binding the titan’s two large hands and vanishing into yet another new portal.

Thanos pulled the webbing off his eyes and kicked Drax back into the rubble. As Parker flew through a new portal yet again, Thanos pulled his hands free of the webbing and grabbed the young boy, throwing him to the ground. I focused a blast of energy to loosen his grip, but Thanos saw me, and flung me back just as he had with Drax.

I felt the ringing in my ears all the way through my body, shaking my fingertips and wobbling my eyes. I lifted a shaker head back towards the action, and stood slowly. 

Peter Quill was running towards the center of the action on glowing gold discs, planting a grenade Thanos’s back and jumping into a portal behind him. The explosion threw me off my feet again, my head starting to pulse, and I cursed myself for letting my powers lie dormant for so long. 

I stumbled back to my feet, this time joined by Drax who has also regained consciousness. Tony had circled back, covering the arena in fire, but Thanos used the gauntlet to gather the energy around him and send the fire hurling back towards Tony, knocking him from the sky.

Drax and I shared a look, and came to an unspoken agreement.

“AHHHH,” we screamed, charging back at the titan.

Strange had managed to capture his arm in stands of red power, fighting him in a game of deadly tug of war for the glove on his hand. Drax kicked out his leg, sending him to his knees. I focused my energy and increased the gravity where he knelt, forcing him to crouch towards the ground. Quill shot a tether to the ground beside me, snaring Thanos’s other arm in a blue light that pulled him towards the ground. Nebula came up in front him, a rusted wire flicking toward and wrapping around his torso, securing his upper arms to his body. Finally, Tony landed at the titan’s feet, gripping the gauntlet and turning his thrusters on the full force to pull it from his arm.

Strange sensed the tether weakening and jumped to strap it down, leaving Tony to try and disarm the giant alone. Another portal opened, this time above Thanos’s head, springing Mantis directly on top of his shoulders. Peter Parker ran towards us from the sidelines, quickly assessing the situation and running to help Tony pry the glove from the giant fist.

Mantis placed her hands on the titan’s temples. “Sleep!” She commanded, and miraculously, the tension in Thanos’s body began to lessen.

“She can’t hold him for long,” Tony explained as he and Peter continued to pull on the gauntlet.

Quill landed next to us, strutting over the Thanos with pride.

I knew what would happen next.

“No one say anything!” I shouted, still trying to pull Thanos to the planet’s surface. “Not a word,” I glared at Peter Quill, “from any of you.”

Quill pursed his lips and fought the words I knew he’d been waiting to say.

I looked up and saw Mantis quivering above me. Her eyes met mine with fear and worry. I tried to hold up a hand to silence her, but I couldn’t pull my strength away from the titan.

“Oh, god,” she cried.

Quill’s eyes flashed, “What? What do you see?”

I saw Nebula’s mind turning behind him, I could see her piecing together the very thing she’d wanted so badly to doubt. Quill followed my eyes to her and I knew it was only a matter of time.

I pulled my focus from Thanos and focused my energy on Quill instead, pushing him towards the ground and leveling him flat against it.

I felt the change in the air as both Drax and Mantis stiffened behind me.

“Everyone needs to keep going!” I called as Quill struggled under the new weight.

“What the hell— let me go!”

“No! Listen to me, this is going to work!” I turned to Tony and Peter. “Tell me you’ve almost got that thing off.”

“Almost,” Peter answered, giving the gauntlet another tug.

“Ok,” I mumbled, “ok.”

I looked at Strange, “Like I said before, as soon as that glove is off him, you open a portal to Wakanda— that’s where the rest of the team is, we’ll have to regroup there.”

He nodded, remarkably willing to take my commands.

“Tell me you’ve got it, Tony.” I couldn’t bring myself to look.

“Almos— wait, yes! Yes, it’s off!”

Strange released his hold first, pulling a portal out of the air. Tony and Peter rushed towards it, followed by Drax, Nebula, Quill (who I quickly released), myself, and finally Mantis. The second her hands left his head, Thanos began to stir, but we were too far for him to reach. Before I stepped through the portal, I turned back, just in time to watch him realize the gauntlet was gone.

The rage was plain on his face and he roared into the empty field. His eyes found me, the last to step through the portal, but I was too elated to be scared of him.

“You.” He growled, coming towards me.

I laughed, and stepped back through the portal.

“Yep. _Me_.”

He lunged at me, but the portal closed before his hands could reach it.

What was a window to Titan disappeared into thin air, and I found myself instead facing the tip of a Wakandan spear.

I stepped back only to stumble on the rest of the group behind me and turned to find myself back to back with Peter Quill.

“I guess you didn’t tell them we were coming.”


	29. Reunion

“How did you get in here?” An accented voice rang out behind me, but I stayed still under the glare of the spearhead in my face.

Tony sputtered, “We didn’t exactly have time for procedure here, Okoye—.”

_Okoye? I remember that name…_

“Look, we’ve just gotta get back to the rest of the team,” Tony continued. “We’ve got… well, we’ve got a lot of new intel.”

I could sense the apprehension from the woman behind me. “You know we’re preparing for a war here, Stark.”

“I know, I know, I mean— hey, look! I brought reinforcements!”

“Reinforcements?!” Peter Quill exclaimed behind me and I stopped on his foot with my heel.

“Yes,” Tony snapped. “Reinforcements. And I know they don’t look like much, but man they can come in handy in a fight, so as you can see—.”

“We don’t have time for this,” Strange grumbled, shuffling the group as he pushed in front of Tony. I turned in the jumble to watch as the wizard approached the leader of the warriors circling us.

“Hi. Yes, we came here unannounced, but as Stark said, we really need to get this information to the team, so if you could please just take us to them, we’d—.”

“I don’t take orders from you.”

Strange’s mouth snapped shut, and I was astonished to see that I’d finally met someone who could silence both him and Stark in the same breath.

“But if the information you have is that important,” she continued. “I’ll take you to the council room.” She looked back at Tony, “They were wondering where you’d run off to anyway.”

“I don’t know if they’re gonna like that answer.”

The spears were raised and the group of women began to lead us back up the field and into the palace gates. I ran through the name in my mind as I went.

_Dora Milaje._ I though as we walked. _These are the Dora Milaje. That is Okoye. The Princess is Shuri._

All these names that had been so second nature to me four years ago were creeping back into my head like molasses. All these people I’d heard of but hadn’t quite come to see. I’d remember T’Challa talking about his sister, who had been studying abroad while I had made a home in Wakanda. I remember the talk of Okoye who had gone to guard her. T’Challa had told me all of these names.

_T’Challa._ My heart stuttered in my chest as my last weeks in this world flashed back into view. The man I had loved, briefly, before being swept away.

_And he doesn’t even know I’m coming._

I swallowed a lump in my throat as a new thought occurred to me. Well, maybe not new, but newly remembered. _Nakia_. I thought as my mind flashed back to a cold movie theater and my mother’s hand wrapped tightly around mine as we watched T’Challa fall for this new woman.

The though eased me, surprisingly. I never expected the feelings we’d had for each other to last through the separation. It’d been four years. I’d hoped he would’ve moved on.

My breath slowed as Okoye lead us into the elevator of the place, sending us flying up into the top floors of the building, past the labs, and all the way into the main halls. The strategy rooms.

Tony snaked through the crowded elevator to grab my arm. “Hey.”

I turned a worried face up to look at him.

He read the shakiness of my hands and told me, “Relax. It’s gonna be fine.” But the words seemed more for his benefit than mine.

I nodded and sunk to the back of the group.

When the doors opened, Okoye lead Stark and Strange out first, followed closely behind by Peter Parker, who was still carrying the massive Infinity Gauntlet, then Quill, Nebula, and Drax, with Mantis and I coming up in the back.

We all stood in the elevator lobby awkwardly before Tony spoke up.

“Well, are we going somewhere?”

Okoye didn’t look at him. “My orders were to wait with you here. Someone will be meeting us to show us to the strategic quarters.”

“Couldn’t you just show us to the strategic quarters?” Quill asked.

“That would be more efficient,” Strange added.

“We have many rooms of strategy,” Okoye snapped back at them.“If I knew which room—.”

“Stark.” A familiar voice rang through the hallway. “I thought you knew better than to give Okoye a heart attack with an appearance like that. Although I am curious as to how you invaded out borders so easily.” T’Challa placed a welcoming hand on Tony’s shoulder. “Let’s hope our enemies are not as miraculous as you are.”

“Yeah, well the miracles just keep coming today,” I heard Tony murmur under his breath. A quizzical look crossed T’Challa’s face until a nod from Tony sent his eyes in my direction.

I snuck out from behind Strange’s shadow and locked eyes with the man across the hall, watching the confusion, disbelief, and shock rock through him before being masked a moment later by a still, collected facade. The group of newcomers around us shuffled awkwardly as T’Challa searched for words he was never going to find until Tony cut off the moment.

“Look, I’ll explain everything, but I’d rather do it once. Just— just take us over to the rest of the team and we’ll get things sorted, ok?” A confident hand on the Black Panther’s shoulder shook him from his quiet bewilderment and he answered with a solemn nod, turning to lead the group in a sort of a trance.

“The hell is wrong with this guy?” Quill quipped as we walked, earning a pointed glare from Okoye, who was eyeing me suspiciously as well. She caught my eye once and her expression softened as she put together who I was, or who I must’ve been. Before she could make her way across the group, we’d arrived at the main strategy hall and T’Challa had thrown open the double doors, revealing a circular table surrounded by almost every member of the Avengers.

“Stark.” Steve’s voice sent my heart tumbling. The relief was evident in his words as he continued, “We saw you got on the ship, how the hell did you—.”

“I’m gonna stop you right there, Cap.” Tony was clearly still in a bit of a state and the rest of the team quieted at his tone. He sighed and kept his eyes tied to the floor. “Ok, your highness, take a seat. I’ve got a lot to tell you before we go into this fight.”

T’Challa sat, as did Steve, the whole team’s eyes still fixed on the leader although a couple of wandering glances were thrown to the rag tag misfits I still hid behind in the doorway.

“Ok, so… to summarize here,” Tony tapped the glowing plate on his chest, letting his suit finally dissolve and leaving him in sweats and a tee shirt. “Spiderkid and I were in New York with Doctor Strange—,” he gestured towards the wizard.

“Hello.”

“Who is the keeper of the time stone by the way, I’m hoping you guys are already kind of caught up on that,” Tony glanced at Bruce from across the room who nodded. “Great, ok. Thanos’s guys took the wizard up to space, I followed to get him back. Parker over here stowed away.”

Peter hung his head and shifted the gauntlet higher on his hip.

Steve’s brows knitted, “Is that—?”

“No, no, no, getting there, I promise I’m getting there.” Stark continued. “We took out Thanos’s men, but went to their meeting point, where we met these assholes,” he gestured to the Guardians, “who also hate Thanos. And together, we managed to disarm him, and leave him stranded on a desolate planet. Is everyone still following?”

The room was quiet but there were general faces of understanding. Slowly, from the back of the room, Bruce raised his hand.

“Yes,” Tony answered, “the little scientist in the back.”

Bruce was unfazed. “Tony, that still doesn’t explain how you got back here, I mean you all just appeared out of nowhere. How’d you even know we’d be here.”

Tony pursed his lips and looked to Strange. “Doctor?”

“I am a master of the mystic arts.” There was a collective eyebrow raise across the room, but Stephen went on. “I have the ability to create portals across space and even, occasionally, into other dimensions.”

There was a glimmer of realization around the room. Steve’s body tensed in his seat as he looked over at T’Challa’s slacked posture. Pietro leaned onto the table to get a better look at Strange. Natasha’s face was unchanged, but her left hand came to grip the edge of the table excitedly. Bruce stepped forwards.

“You can open portals into other dimensions?”

Steve stood and with a single stride planted himself in front of Tony. “How did you know?” he asked, the answer already burning in his eyes. “How did you know where to find us?”

I knew this was my moment but I couldn’t bring my feet to move. I was stuck, my heart pounding and my mouth dry. I saw Peter Parker shifting in front of me, throwing halfway glances over his shoulder. I couldn’t do it. It’d been too long. I’d spent too much time away from these people, away from this life. They wouldn’t want me back. They couldn’t—.

“Come on out, kid.” Stark’s voice pulled me from my thoughts and willed my feet to move.

I stumbled into the room, the rest of the group side stepping to let me pass, and there was a deafening, ear shattering silence that stole every voice in the room. I pulled my eyes from the floor, and settled on something familiar.

“Steve—.”

The rest of the sentence never passed my lips as I was hoisted into the arms of the super soldier, my face pressed tight into his neck and my hands thrown into his hair.

“I thought you were gone,” he whispered as he pulled me tighter into his embrace.

I laughed, “You’re not getting rid of me that easy.”

He pulled his face away to study me, as if to check that I was really here, really back. I watched him run his eyes over my shoulders, my chin, my cheeks, every inch, taking tallies of the parts of me that he remembered. I looked at him too, the broad shoulders that housed the arms wrapped around me, his hair, now wavy and swept back off his eyes, the beard that covered his jaw. And his eyes, blue eyes that lingered on my lips before coming to look into my own. There was happiness in them, and confusion, and something deeper that I couldn’t quite make out.

“You changed your hair,” he guessed.

“No,” I laughed again, the joy swelling in my chest, “and you’re certainly one to talk. Where’d that beard come from anyway?”

“Thought I’d intimidate the competition,” a mischievous light caught in his eye. “But you’re different, you look different.”

My eyes softened. “I got older. Why, is it a bad kind of different?”

“No, it’s—.” He stopped himself, seeming to realize something he had wanted to ignore, and released me from his hold, putting me gingerly at arms length although the smile wouldn’t move from his lips. “It’s just different is all.”

Finally I stopped to look at the rest of the room and saw the team on their feet. Natasha came towards me first, catching me in a hug and swaying with me from foot to foot. She pulled away and smirked at me through teary eyes, “Shoulda known it’d take morethan one mad scientist to keep you away from the action.”

I laughed and turned as I felt a new hand on my shoulder. Sam stood quietly behind me and took me in his arms as the others hand, clapping a firm hand on my back. I looked up at him, and saw the thin veneer of control that was keeping his tears at bay, so I only fixed him with a heartfelt smile.

Bucky came up behind him, throwing his arms around me and laughing deep in his chest. "Knew you'd be back," he said, pulling away. "You still owe me that dance." 

I smiled at him and was about to quip back when I was interrupted by Bruce. He had come up to stand behind Natasha, halfway pushing a path through the crowd that had gathered around me at the front of the room. "How--?" 

“Strange got me,” I explained. “Appeared in my bedroom unannounced and everything.”

“I can’t believe it, I mean I just can’t.” The scientist’s smiles suddenly turned into a look of sincere worry. “You know we never stopped trying to get you back. I’ve got notes, books of them, I mean. For the past two years—.”

“Two years?” I looked over to Strange, confused. “It’s only been two years here?”

The worry on Bruce’s face doubled. “What’re you talking about? Two years. It’s been—,” he looks at Strange, “it’s been two years since she disappeared.”

My head started to spin, “It’s been two years for you. That’s why you’re still here. That’s why you’re still fighting this.”

Steve pushed through, “Wait, you’re staying that it’s been longer for you?”

I looked at him. “I’ve been waiting for four years.”

The room was quiet again as the scientists looked at Strange.

“What’s she talking about?” Tony asked.

“I don’t know.” It was an honest answer if an unsatisfying one. “The universal timeframe should be running at the same speed, if her universe was running a faster clock maybe or—,” a look of realization came over him, “the time stone.”

I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding, “Oh…”

“It must not have altered our timeline, but with the frequent back and forth—.”

“The universal time constants must’ve shifted.” I finished for him, the understanding quieting my mind.

“Wait, does someone want to explain that one more time?” Tony asked.

I looked at him. “Stephen has been screwing with the time stone, sending your timeline backwards and forwards over and over again. It makes sense that your path might be a little stunted.”

Strange looked offended, but when he opened his mouth to speak I cut him off.

“The point is: the more we mess with the time stone, the more our paths are going to disconnect. But more importantly, I'm back. And that means that _I_ have information, _we_ have a battle coming up, and _you_ are sorely unprepared.” I looked around the room and finally took stock of the team. “Wait a minute— where’s Wanda? Where’s Vision?”

“Downstairs,” T’Challa spoke up, meeting my eyes with an awkward emotion I couldn’t put my finger on. “In the lab. She and Shuri are working on removing the stone from his head.”

I nodded, “Good ok, then you’re already on the right track. Now—.”

“Wait, wait, stop, everybody just stop!”

I whirled around to see Peter Quill speaking with pained eyes.

“Look, I don’t know you. I don’t know what freaking ‘battle’ you’re talking about. I’m not here to be your freaking freedom fighter or shit.” He cast his stare to me and approached me with slow, intimidating steps. “I’m here for one reason only: to find my girl. And the way to do that, is through Thanos but you, you managed to get us away from Thanos before I could get that information from him.” He looked down at me. “But you’ve got all the answers, right? And I’m starting to wonder why you brought me here, instead of telling me what I need to know. So I’m gonna ask you one time,” his hand rested on his blaster and Steve took a protective stance at my side but Quill was too dead set to notice. “Where is Gamora?”

My eyes flicked to Mantis who stood quivering in the doorway, and then to Nebula whose downcast eyes rose to meet mine.

Quill followed my gaze and locked eyes with Gamora’s sister. “What is it?” He looked back at me, “Why are you looking at her like that?!” He was yelling now, he drew his blaster, but was immediately disarmed and pinned by Sam. Drax sprang into action with a cry, but Strange pressed a golden finger to his temple and sent his body into stillness. Quill struggled in Sam’s hold, and looked to Nebula.

“Thanos wanted the soul stone, and he got it” she said, and looked towards the gauntlet. “But it comes with the price.” She looked at Quill, who’s struggles were lessening by the minute. “Gamora went with him to Vormir. She didn’t come back.”

I watched as Quill’s face went slack.

“No, no, that’s not what happened, he wouldn’t—.” He looked to Mantis who wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Oh my God.” Sam released him and he fell to his knees. “Oh my God.”

T’Challa wove effortlessly through the crowd and knelt beside Peter. “I am sorry, for your loss,” he said quietly. “This is a man who costs many lives, let hers not be in vain.” He waved a number of guards over, “We will give you your time to grieve. Please, you and your friends will be safe here. You will have whatever you wish.” He helped the other man to his feet, “And when it comes, that you wish vengeance,” Quill’s eyes came up to meet his, “then we will give you that as well.”

Quill nodded, his face still empty and long as he and the remaining Guardians were gently guided from the room and taken downstairs where they might have space to grieve.

“Now,” T’Challa looked at me, command evident in his voice. “Tell us what you know.”


	30. Preparations

It quickly became clear to us that, with the drastic changes that I’d already made in this universe, there wasn’t too much help I could give in terms of specific battle logistics. With all the new team members that were either MIA or dead in the timeline I’d watched on screen, we really couldn’t know exactly what was going to go down.

“Ok so,” Sam was rubbing his face, “so far we know that they have a bunch of big weird alien dogs that attempt to surround the perimeter, several giant burrowing wheels that dig under the shields, the mean alien chick from earlier who’s super pissed that we killed her friend,” Natasha winced from her seat across the war table, but Sam continued, “and then a big troll guy.”

“Don’t forget the surprise attack on Shuri while she’s working on Vision,” I reminded everyone of the pivotal act in the attack. “That’s why they call in when Wanda comes on the field.”

“And you can’t tell us how they get through our defenses,” T’Challa prodded.

“No. I’m sorry.”

He nodded, looking down at the table. “Well, we can’t leave the lab unprotected then. Someone will have to stay here to guard the stone.”

“Yeah, about that— there seems to be a major change we’re all ignoring.” Tony’s eyes met mine as if to verify his statement but I just stared at him blankly. He continued, “So in this battle, supposedly, Thanos shows up _with_ the gauntlet and the other five stones and effectively kicks your asses, kills half of all life in the universe, and leaves me stranded on a desolate planet, right?”

The gravity of the stakes had already sunk in for the team, but Tony’s reminder brought dark looks around the table.

“But,” Tony added, “that’s not the way this is going to go because we have _this_.” He waved a casual hand towards the golden glove sitting on the far end of the table, and the breath in the room stiffened at the acknowledgement of the power that sat just a few feet away. “So the question is: what is that going to change.”

“Tony’s right,” Steve jumped in.

“How refreshing to hear it out loud. Do you think I could get that embroidered on a pillow? Wedding present maybe?”

Steve ignored him. “Thanos may be stranded for now, but he won’t be for long. And when his people get word of what we’ve got, well,” he took a deep breath, “I think the prospect of having all those stones in the same place might push the attack even harder than we thought.”

“So what do we do with it?” Pietro spoke up. “We can’t just leave it here.”

“Well what are we going to do, carry it around?” Natasha countered.

“Why doesn’t Wanda just destroy the stones, the way we were planning to destroy the one in Vision’s head?” Sam asked.

Bruce shook his head, “That wouldn’t work. There’s only the possibility that Wanda will be able to destroy the mind stone, and that’s because it gave her the power to do it; her energy signature is similar enough to that of the stone that her powers might, _might_ , be able to penetrate it. But these other stones…”

“They have completely different natures,” Stephen jumped in. “Different compositions. Not to mention that the fall out of destroying something like the power stone could wipe out the planet.”

“Or the time stone could force the universe into a loop,” Bruce added.

“Precisely.”

“Ok,” Sam said, rubbing his face, “so that’s a no on the stone destruction. I’m sorry I asked.”

“No the stones will need to be destroyed eventually," I corrected. "Unless you want to run into this kind of power-hungry madman again. But we certainly can't destroy them without at least knowing something about what they are. In the meantime, we have to find a way to protect them. A way that doesn't include one of us trying to use the glove,” I reminded the table firmly, eyeing the curious glances towards the stones. “The power would kill any one of us.”

“Yes, we cant use the glove,” Tony agreed. “But—.”

“ _Tony—,_ ” I started.

“No, no hear me out.” He plowed on. “We can’t use the glove. But the stones themselves? That could be manageable, right?” He saw the protests brewing around the group and he swooped in with a different tactic. “Pietro’s right, we can’t just leave the glove here with all the stones in the same place. But if we’re going to split the stones up, they’ll each need a guard, right?”

His point was dawning on me.

“So the only way we get the stones separated and protected is to have them on us.” Tony finished, knowing he’d made a completing case in his favor.

There was a mumble around the room.

“So what,” Bruce started, “we just wear a little necklace of cosmic energy and march it out to Thanos on the field?”

“Well, what’s the alternative?” The tension was back in Tony’s voice as he shouted across the room. “We leave the stones here, someone breaks in we lose all of them. We separate the stones around the city with guards, they get attacked because we don't have enough power on the front lines.” His voice toned down, “We don’t have a good option here. Everything is its own version of shitty. But if we go out with the stones— hidden on us, even— they’ll never expect it. And if we can find a way to use them?” He sat back in his seat by T’Challa’s side, “We might just have a winning strategy on our hands.”

There was a hush around the room as everyone mulled over Stark’s proposal.

“It’s not the worse idea.” I spoke up, hesitantly. I met the sea of eyes around the table. “I mean, a lot of what he said is right. There are some things we’ll have to be careful with— the power stone and space stone seem especially dangerous and will have to be carried in some sort of protective gear. But if we can get all the stones out of the gauntlet than we might be able to destroy it.”

“Destroy it?” Steve asked.

I nodded. “He had it made specifically for him on this mythical planet. That’s where Thor is now, where he’s building that weapon I took you about.” I looked at Tony, “If we can get the stones out we can destroy it, and Thanos will be one step further from decimating the universe.”

“Thank you,” Tony clapped a hand over his heart, “I’m counting that as a vote in my favor.”

“Hold on, Tony.” Steve looked toward T’Challa who was studying the gauntlet with apprehension. “This is your turf, this should be your call.”

There was a moment as the king carefully weighed his options, then he spoke. “It is a bad plan,” he began, and he looked at me, “but we do not have a better one. We have been given a great advantage,” a smile flickered in his cheeks, “it would be a shame not to use it.”

———————————————————————————————————————

It was decided that Wanda would stay to guard the mind stone, along with Shuri as she worked on removing it from Vision’s head. The rest of the stones were to be housed in protective Vibranium, which would allow their power to remain accessible while their hosts remained intact.

Hopefully.

Thus as a protective measure, everyone was advised _not_ to use the stones unless absolutely necessary, both as a personal protection, and to keep Thanos’s men in the dark about the positioning of the stones right under their noses. Discretion being key, it was decided that the stones would go to the members of the team least likely to use them, much to Tony’s dismay. Steve was given the space stone, the reality stone went to Natasha, the power stone went to T’Challa, the time stone stayed with Strange (despite protests of the rest of the team though he promised not to use it), and the soul stone went to, of all people, me.

The gauntlet was carried by Peter and Tony down to the lab, and the rest of the team filed out slowly to prepare themselves for the battle ahead. Natasha brushed by me as she left, telling me that she’d sent messages to Clint and Scott to meet us here, and that she’d asked Fury to call this ‘Captain Marvel’ that I had mentioned before. I smiled my thanks and let her pass me.

My eyes caught Steve’s as he left alongside Sam and Bucky, but I waved him past. He nodded, but notably keep the three of them loitering in the elevator lobby nearby, where I could just barely make out the tenor of their louder words.

The only one who hadn’t vacated the space, save myself, was the king. T’Challa stood in front of the window overlooking the large field that bordered the city. I could tell he was volleying a hundred thoughts, each louder than the last as he looked out at the home he’d opted up to the world just in time to watch it become a battlefield.

I walked over to stand beside him. “It is a beautiful view.”

He did not take his eyes off the horizon, “Yes. Very.”

I was clear that neither of us knew what to say, so we just stood together for another moment, letting the sunlight warm us through the glass. Eventually he spoke again.

“Do you see that there?” he asked, pointing to a ridge off to the right.

I nodded.

“That was where I took you. When we had dinner that night.”

I looked up and saw the sorrow building in his face. Before I could speak he wrapped me in his arms.

“I’m so sorry. I told you I would keep you safe. It was my watch that night. I should’ve been with you. I never should have let that man take you.” His left hand rested in my hair while the other clung tightly around my shoulders.

I sputtered, surprised by the whole exchange. “No— T’Challa. No, you can’t possibly feel guilty about that.” I pulled back to look at him but he would not meet my eyes. “It wasn’t your fault. Please,” I lifted his hand to my face and he drew his eyes from the floor to look in mine. “You have to understand that. I have never even considered blaming you for what happened. It was him. It was only him.”

He nodded and dropped his arms. A shadow of a smile came to cover sadness, “You have always been too forgiving. It is my home, it is my duty to protect those I bring here.” He took my hands in his, “It will not happen again.”

I rolled my eyes at him, “We’re about to go in to battle, don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

He laughed, surprising me, “Well, it would be much easier to keep them if you’d just sty out of trouble.”

I laughed in reply, surprised but happy that he’d found his usual levity again. “If I didn’t like trouble I never would’ve liked _you._ ”

We both quieted, suddenly realizing the past tense nature of our relationship, and settling into an easy comfort once the words were said.

“I saw your movie. You looked— happy.”

He raised a brow at me, “Ah, and did I look dashing?”

I smirked, “Oh, always. All the girls were drooling over you.” I looked down and wondered if I should ask my next question.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Well,” my voice broke and I cleared my throat, “it’s just that, in the movie, it was about your coronation.” I looked to the ground. “And I’ve been hearing everyone here calling you—.”

“King, yes. Yes, I understand.” He quieted for a moment and looked back out the window, back out to the sprawling field. “My father passed away.”

I had guessed as much but the confirmation brought pinpricks to my eyes.

“He was peaceful, and happy. It was his time.” T’Challa continued. He looked to me again, “He was always grateful for the extra years you gave him. He was very sad to see you leave.”

I smiled weakly, “He was always very kind to me. I’ll miss meeting him in the palace gardens.”

“Ah, yes,” T’Challa laughed, “I remember, once he convinced you that the kings of Wakanda could talk to the birds.”

I rolled my eyes and laughed again, remembering how earnestly I had believed the old man’s claims, and how mercilessly T’Challa had mocked me afterwards. “He did like his jokes— even if they were at my expense.” My eyes softened as I looked at the new king. “He would be very proud of you.”

He smiled warmly and hugged me once more. “And he would be glad to have you back in his home.” He released me and our bodies drifted away from each other again. “He will be watching over us today.”

“Maybe he can get the birds to come help.”

“You already have that lunatic friend of yours in the bird suit.”

We laughed again, content to be in the presence of a friend.

“Go,” he told me, “get ready. Besides I think your other friends are waiting for you, and I won’t have them thinking I’m being greedy with your time.”

I smiled and nodded, “I’ll see you after the battle then?”

“Yes,” he put a reassuring hand to my shoulder, “after we’ve _won_ the battle.”

The weight of his words fell on me as I turned to leave the room.

_We’re going into battle,_ I thought, _And all of us might not make it out._

———————————————————————————————————————

Steve, Bucky, and Sam were waiting in the lobby down the hall when I left T’Challa. They all turned to me as I walked in to greet them, smiles plastered on their faces.

“There she is,” Bucky walked to meet me and swung me up, throwing me over his shoulder. I laughed and whacked him on the back, squirming to get out of his hold.

“Why are you in such a good mood?” I asked, still laughing despite my worries for the day ahead, “Don’t you know what’s coming?”

“Oh I do,” Bucky brought my feet back to the ground, “but there’s always something coming. And now we’ve got you back. So all in all, I’m thinking it’s a net positive day.”

“He’s always cracking jokes before a mission nowadays,” Steve informed me, with a half smile at Bucky. “He’s too happy now, almost his old self again.”

“Yeah, ‘bout that cap, any way we can roll back the recovery a bit?” Sam chimed in. “I don’t know if I can take this Bucky now; especially now that he's got his girl back.”

“ _His_ girl?” Bucky grinned, “Well, Steve buddy, it looks like I’m takin another dame from you.”

Steve’s eyes flicked to me playfully, “The dame can go where she wants.”

The group chuckled and we made our way into the elevator, on our way downstairs. I found myself speechless at the sudden cheerful exchange. It felt like no time at all had passed as I fell back into the easy rhythm of their conversation, but at the same time, seeing Bucky be so _different_ , so much like his old self, it threw me off guard in all the best ways. And Steve… Well, the look in his eyes was changing every minute. The group chattered on, asking me about where I’d been, what I’d been doing, but he stayed mostly quiet. His eyes constantly shifted, one minute he was genuinely happy to see me, and the next they would be washed over in shades of guilt. _But what could he be guilty of?_

“So now that you’re a real adult—.”

“Real adult? Bucky, she’s still a kid. I mean come on,” Sam liked at me, “have you even done your taxes yet?”

“Ignore him. And she is an adult, she can drink and go dancing, what more do you want?”

“Go dancing? What decade are you reverting to now, Buck? Wanna take our girl out to a ‘rockin shindig’?”

“All I’m saying here is that she promised me a dance and I’m ready to collect.”

“What you’re gonna make our girl dance with a dinosaur like you?”

“Who you calling dinosaur? Steve and I are both younger than you by a mile, not that anyone with a decent set of eyes needs to be told that.”

“What are you talking about now?”

“Oh I’m sorry grandpa, need to put your hearing aids in?”

“Alright, tone it down.” Steve shut down the debate as we turned into the main palace where I had stayed all those years before. He saw my body tense as we turned into the residential wings. He lowed his voice and dropped behind Sam and Bucky to walk beside me, “Are you alright?”

I nodded and shook the strangeness from my shoulders. “Yeah, it’s all good.”

He smiled and brought a gentle hand to my back. I look up at him and cozied into his side, letting my arm wrap around his waist as he lead me through the halls.

We turned through the common area where Steve, Bucky, and I used to have our movie marathons, and I realized where they were taking me.

“Are you,” I glanced around the three men, “are you taking me to my old room?”

“What do you mean ‘old’?” Sam said. “It’s your room, always has been.”

“What do you think we’d just let someone else move in?” Bucky teased.

I looked up at Steve, confused and heart warmed all at once.

Steve’s hand squeezed my side when he felt me start to tremble. “I promised we’d find you. We never stopped looking.”

I nodded, my brain too overwhelmed to form words as the men continued leading me down the hallway. Sam and Bucky each peeled off to their respective rooms as we passed them, but Steve lead me all the way to mine, pushing the door open with ease.

I felt the tightness in my chest increasing as I walked into the room I’d been torn from four years prior. I remember the nightmares that plagued me in that bed. The whispers that had leaked into my brain every moment I’d stayed here.

“Hey,” Steve noticed my discomfort and knelt in front of me, “are you ok? We can get you a different room, I just wanted to—.”

“No,” I stuttered, “no, it’s fine I just… It’s just all hitting me is all.”

Steve nodded and led me to the bed. He sat beside me, letting my hand clutch his as I let my panic run from my toes, through my body, and out into the air with every breath.

“What happened to him?” I asked, quietly.

Steve’s face hardened, knowing immediately who I was asking about. “Tony took him to the raft, questioned him for months. Tried to understand how we could possibly get you back.” He looked to the floor, his brow furrowed over worried eyes. “But there wasn’t any way back. Erik was convinced that he’d severed all ties. He’d never believe that you actually made it back here.” He stopped to smile and look at me, but noticed my worry had not yet faded. “We did make a cage— or a, god I don’t know what Tony called it, but it keeps him contained. You know like cages do, but mentally.”

My head snapped up at that, and I met Steve’s eyes as he realized the information that I’d been searching for.

“He can't find you,” he told me definitively, and I felt the air return to the room in a rush. “We made sure of that. Even though we couldn’t find you, we wanted to make sure that when you were back, you would be safe. Safe from him.”

I nodded, calm and smiling, wiping a stray tear from my cheek. “Thank you.”

Steve returned the smile and went to reach for my face, but seemed to change his mind and sent his hand to place a loose hair behind my ear.

“Anyway,” he stood from the bed and walked towards the closet, “I figured we’d come down here because you need,” he opened the closet doors to reveal a new suit, “to suit up.”

I followed him to the closet and ran my hand over the fabric of the new suit. It was black, like my old one, and had my whip running around the waist, but the material was lighter, and patterned with tiny scales that shimmered in the light.

“After you were taken, and the team got back together, Tony and Bruce learned a few tricks from the top Wakandan scientists.” He brought the suit down so I could hold it and it felt almost weightless. “The new fabric is modeled after T’Challa’s suit, laced with Vibraninum, so it doesn’t just guard against impact, it also retains energy.”

I laid the suit over my arm and sent a small shock through the whip. Immediately the suit glowed and hummed with a buzz of energy.

“Ok, but then how do I use the contained energy?” I asked Steve.

“Well, I don’t know the science,” he put his hands up in surrender, “but the short version is that the kinetic energy sets it off. So if you just, you know,” he made a flicking motion with his arm, “move the sleeve.”

I raised a brow and did as he said. A wave of energy rippled out of the suit and up my arm, startling me, but not injuring me. I shook my head and muttered, “Damn.”

“Yeah,” Steve said, “they’re standard issue now.”

We both stood there for another moment until the awkwardness was unbearable.

“Well,—.

“I should—.”

We smiled as our sentences collided in the small space between us.

I gestured for him to start.

“I was saying that I should let you get changed. I’ll meet you in the common area in ten with Sam and Bucky and we can head up to the lab together to get the— you know the infinite stones.”

I laughed. “Yes, we can all go up and get our _infinity_ stones together.”

“Right,” Steve turned to leave, but stopped and turned with a sudden thought. His face was serious, “You know I’ve got your back out there, right? I know it’s been a while, and I know you can handle yourself just fine but I—,” he let out a breath and his shoulders fell, “I don’t want to lose you again.”

My heart fluttered as I looked into his eyes. “You won’t.”

Our eyes locked for an extra moment before his face softened and he turned to leave the room, shutting the door behind him with a soft click, and walking lightly down the hall to his own room just a few doors down. 

I sat back on the bed and continued to study the suit, watching the scales reflect in the early afternoon light. 

"I'm ready for this." I told myself. "I have to be ready for this."


	31. Attack on Wakanda

In fifteen minutes the four of us were back in the elevator, flying up towards the lab. I shuffled in my new suit, the fabric wrapping securely around my body. I could almost feel the power in it, the grace in its design. With every step the suit began the breathe in the energy around it, and the power was pleasantly intoxicating.

The doors opened to the high tech space I had expected. Just a few floors down from the room we had met in earlier, it shared the same view of the distant field, but the interior was buzzing with activity. There were screens and holograms on every wall and in the center of the room, below the balcony the elevator let out on, was a table—occupied by Vision.

A pair of glowing red eyes looked up at me from the table’s side before they fell to a deep brown. “Oh my god…”

I ran down the stairs to meet Wanda in a firm embrace.

“They told me you were here, I knew I could feel you, I just.. I couldn’t believe it.”

“I missed you. So much.” I pulled way to look at her, and saw Shuri behind her. “Hi,” I started nervously, “Well, I’m—.”

In a moment I was swept up in another hug, this time in the arms of the princess.

“I know who you are,” she whispered. “You saved my father. Thank you.”

I returned the hug just as she drew back, looking at me playfully, “And T’Challa told me about you. Repeatedly. So in my mind, I already know you quite well.”

I smiled at her, “Only good things I hope.”

“Oh, I know just about everything,” she turned away from me with a mischievous glint in her eye, and I realized just how little I would want to be on her bad side. “But what I want to know more of is your universe, and how you got back here.”

“Sadly, that will have to be a conversation for later.” Steve had joined me downstairs, flanked by Bucky and Sam. “How’s Vision coming along?”

Shuri walked to the edge of the table, pulling up an image of the mind stone and the hundreds of tethers that held it to Vision’s head. “It’s coming, but it will take more time. The stone is even more embedded than I thought.” She looked to me, “Do you know if this works? Can I get it out of him safely?”

I shook my head, “I don’t know. From what I saw you never get the chance.”

“Well, then we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen,” Sam said, resting a comforting hand on Wanda’s shoulders. “He’ll have the best defense we’ve got.”

Wanda nodded, her eyes still locked on Vision and a stubborn determination set on her face. “I won’t leave his side.” She looked to me. “They won’t get him this time.”

I nodded at her resolve and grasped her hand tightly.

“They better not get any of the other stones either.” Shuri said, moving from the table to a case on the far wall. Pressing her hand to a pad, the case unlocked and opened, revealing two Vibranium cases. “T’Challa and Natasha already got their stones and are headed to the front lines.” She picked up the remaining cases and brought them carefully to Steve and me. “I want it on the record that this is a horrible idea.”

“Do you have another idea?” Bucky asked, surprisingly earnestly as he watched his best friend roll the Space Stone encased in a thin layer of Vibranium around his hand.

“You could lock them in a safe. Hide them across the world. Drop them in the sea.”

“Thanos will do whatever it takes to get these stones. He’s got powerful friends, he can crack the safes, he can drain the oceans, he can go town to town tearing the earth apart,” Steve looked up from the stone in his hand. “I don’t like this plan either. But with all the stones here, Thanos is focused on us where we’re strongest: together. We have his attention here, where we can defend him. You vacated the city, the defenses are strong, no civilians need to get hurt here.” He unwrapped a thick chain that melted into the stone’s casing and secured it around his neck. “Besides,” he added, tucking the stone under his suit where it hid between the straps of ammunition that slung over his shoulders, “at least this plan is stupid enough that they’d never expect it.”

“That we can agree on.” Shuri retorted, handing me my stone.

It was light in my hand, the Vibranium and the Soul Stone combined in a terrifyingly life like way. I was mesmerized by it, compelled by its nature as it read me.

Wanda’s hand on my shoulder woke me and startled me back to reality. I smiled at her and quickly unwrapped the chain as Steve had, throwing it over my head and nestling the stone under my suit. The small bulge was nearly unnoticeable as I situated it low in the rise of my chest.

“Ready?” Steve asked the group, and we nodded. I hugged Wanda and Shuri again before following the three tall men out of the room, into the elevator, and out to the field below.

———————————————————————————————————————

The four of us joined the rest of the team at the head of the battlefield. Leagues of soldiers outfitted in bright prints and patterns faced the edge of Wakanda’s border, preparing what what they knew would come next. T’Challa stood at the ready, flanked by Okoye and a man I recognized as M’Baku. Steve approached the king.

“Where do you want us?”

T’Challa surveyed our group, puzzling our positions in his head. “You should split up,” he decided. “Keep the stones as far away from each other as possible.”

Steve nodded and looked back towards Bucky. With an instant of silent communication between the two of them, Bucky’s hand came to pat my shoulder.

“We’ll take the right flank.”

I looked back to Steve, letting our eyes meet before turning to walk with Bucky to the far side of the field. Of course I had no lack of trust for the dark haired super soldier, but I still felt a pang of discomfort at being separated from Steve’s side. Something about the way he had looked at me today— it made me want to be near him.

“You alright?”

I was jolted out of my thoughts. I looked up at Bucky and smiled weakly. “It’s just strange to be back is all.”

He stopped, and a sudden look of worry crossed his face. “Are you sure you’re up for this?” he asked. “You know none of us would question you wanting to stay behind and guard the stone from inside.”

“No, no, it’s not that. I know I can do this,” I was trying to convince myself as much as him, but his eyes remained wary.

“I know you can too, but you know,” he surveyed the field with a look of casual, if artificial, detachment, “you’ve given us a lot of good intel here. ‘Wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t need the extra hand after all—.”

“ _Bucky._ ” I rolled my eyes at him, “I’m fine. I promise. I want to do my part.” I shoved past him playfully. “Besides, I can’t let you guys have all the fun.”

“Oh yeah?” He smiled, falling into an easy gait beside me once again. “Well, there should be plenty of fun today. Not that I’m letting you get too close to it.”

“You know I hate your old-ass chivalry,” I groaned. “You know I can handle myself.”

“Oh, I know, doll.” Bucky replied chuckling. “You do just fine. _Better_ than fine. That is, when you’ve been practicing. When you’ve been in the field.”

My heart dipped low in my chest, “I have been, I mean I—.”

He held up a defensive hand. “I know. Sure you have.” He snuck a wink down at me. “But I’ve still got your back. And your front. And pretty much anywhere else.”

I pouted at the prospect of his protection. “Bucky—,” I went to plead my case.

“Nope. No debates.” He shifted his gun higher on his shoulder as we neared the right side of the field. “I’m not taking any chances— not with he way Steve was looking at you.”

I blushed and went to speak.

“I may be old, but I’m not dead. He doesn’t look at any dame like that.” He grinned at me, “and I don’t wanna be the one he hits if something happens to ya.”

I glanced up at him, suddenly curious and shy in equal parts, but unable to string together any coherent words.

We came to the front of the right flank, finding our place at the front of the wall of warriors and nodding our respect as we passed. Bucky reached out a hand to the frontmost soldier.

“Ayo,” he greeted her.

“Barnes,” she replied, and looked past him to me.

I introduced myself, wiping a sweating palm on the leg of my suit before remembering that handshaking was not common practice here. Not that she noticed as she and Bucky had shifted the conversation from introductions to the logistics of the day.

The plan was simple: defend the city and defend the stones. The Wakandans had been briefed on my breakdown of the battle, from the spaceship landings, to the dog like monsters, to the big ‘rings of death,’ as I had been forced to describe them. Many of the strategies I had told them of were still listed in the game plan. The idea of allowing a small sector of the shield to open when the enemy began to circle the perimeter was still in place, Rhodey’s air defensive was still a major point in the start of the fight. But there was also the air of uncertainty that lingered around us. The constant reminder that there were too many variables to count. The thought that we could have much more coming for us than we’d planned for. The thought that Thanos himself could still find his way to our doorstep.

I looked to my left, my eyes trailing down the line of soldiers and falling on Steve, Sam, and T’Challa talking in the middle of the field. Behind their grouping was Strange, who had elected to take an aerial view of the fight and help where he could. On the far flank were Natasha and Bruce although I couldn’t see more than the shape of the giant Hulk Buster armor from this distance. Behind them was Tony, just as Rhodey was behind us.

I counted the team on the field, once, and then again. Someone was missing, I knew it. I just couldn’t place who.

A rush of air flew past my cheek and a familiar hand came to rest on my back.

“It is a good day for a fight, no?” Pietro’s voice dripped low in my ear.

I shrugged him off, turning to face him with judgmental eyes. “How is everyone here in such a good mood for a battle?”

He laughed at me, “It’s what we do. And this is far more interesting than running in to old rotting buildings to find old Hydra paperwork.” His face softened slightly. “We are also, of course, in a good mood because you are back.”

I felt my annoyance melt as the genuine feeling came into his eyes. I let him take a step towards me and take my hands in his.

“I’m glad you’re alright. And I’m glad you’re back.”

I smiled under the warmth of his touch. It was healing almost, taking away ounces of pain and worry that I’d grown so accustomed to I’d forgotten what it felt like to live without it. I was plotting a reply when Bucky’s voice interrupted us.

“Alright, you little bastard,” he grumbled from behind Pietro, “leave the girl alone and get back to your position. We actually have a job to do here if you haven’t forgotten.”

Pietro winked at me, “How could I, old man?” He turned in an instant and zoomed away, the wind flicking Bucky’s hair as he left.

I laughed and the sound surprised me. I couldn’t remember the last time Pietro had made me laugh. It had been years ago. It had been another lifetime.

Bucky caught my nostalgic stare and clapped a large hand on my shoulder. “Come on, kid,” he told me, “keep your eyes open. You never know when they’re coming.”

I scoffed at him. “Trust me, Buck. I think this attack is gonna be pretty hard to miss.”

“Hey, now you don’t know _everything_. They could have a different approach than the one you know. They could have spies— just look at that,” he pointed towards a rustling bush just outside of the city shields. “That could be an agent of the enemy.” He turned to face me. “All I’m saying is, you’ve gotta stay on your to—.”

His voice trailed off as his eyes tracked behind me. I turned and saw what had captured his attention. Three dark objects were hurtling at us, red hot as they traveled through the atmosphere. The rest of the field had noticed the intrusion as well, turning their faces towards the sky as the masses grew with every passing second. The first one fell to the ground in front of us with a deafening thud, followed quickly by the other two. Metal clamps came down from the sides of the ships, securing them into the earth just in time for their doors to open and release the first wave of dog-like monsters.

The creatures crashed against the Wakandan shield, trampling each other into the shock inducing wall mindlessly. There was a quiet eternity as the army on the field watched the creatures begin to kill themselves against the shield, the horror and fear mounting in the bones of even the bravest among us. But as the creatures began to circle the perimeter of the shield, the plan sprung into action, and the relief of direction overcame the fear on the field.

With a word, a small sliver of the shield was opened letting the aliens start their charge towards us. The cry that started in the center of the forces and percolated out to us on the outer rims rang in the air. I refused to let my fear or my confusion show as I willed leaden feet to start their run, approaching the enemy with the crowd. My heart beat faster with every step, unsure of where I would go but forward, always forwards. Always one step closer to the enemy. Always in step with my friends.

I felt Bucky stop, lugging a heavy gun up to eye level and starting to shoot down monsters from across the field. I felt a sudden loneliness as I charged ahead without him, but the knowledge of having him nearby quelled my anxious thoughts. My footsteps slowed as I realized my lack of direction. I had to pick a target. I had to make a decision. I found a creature nearby, coming full force at a wall of soldiers to my left. I planted my feet firmly and focused a sharp blow to the creature, zapping it with a burst of energy. It toppled over, hurt and stunned, but definitely still alive.

Alive and very unhappy.

With a shake of its massive head, it set its face towards me. It started a clumsy cantor towards me and I readied myself to blast it again. A shot rang out behind me, startling me and knocking the creature in front of me off its feet— this time for good.

I shot an annoyed look back at the Winter Soldier who had the good sense to grant me a pitying shrug before going off to take aim at another creature that was nipping at Steve’s heels from a hundred yards off. I shook off my discouragement and plowed back into the field.

I wove through the right side of the field, taking out as many creatures as I could come across. I prioritized those that were poised to attack the soldiers on my flank, trying to weaken them with a shock to make their take down easier. A wave of guilt continuously rose in me, watching these mindless creatures be slaughtered on the field, but it was pushed down every time I caught the eye of a fallen warrior. It was replaced then with rage, a white hot rage for the one man that was responsible for all this bloodshed.

_Thanos._

Suddenly the ground beneath me started to shake and I looked to see the giant metal wheels emerging from under the border shield. They threw a number of soldiers from the ground, trampling them violently. I started at a run, knowing how dangerous these things could be, and knowing that without Wanda on the field— I was among those with the best chance of stopping them.

With a leap and a prayer, I launched myself into the sky, soaring up to meet Strange and Stark above the field. With a nod of silent communication, Strange and I lifted the giant wheels into the air. The concentration of keeping both myself and the monolithic structure off the ground was dizzying, but my pride wouldn’t let me admit the strain. Stark took off in front of us, blasting the wheels at their weakest points to break them apart. I could feel the sweat dripping down my brow and darkness spotting my vision.

“Steady,” Strange warned, catching my fatigue in the corner of his eye.

I nodded, blinking to stir myself and focusing again on the wheels in front of me, lifting them even higher in the air.

I could tell we were almost done. Tony had almost finished his last pass at the wheels when something caught my eye from below. At the gate, just where the opening was, there was a woman. An alien, standing amidst all the creatures running past her. I searched my mind to find where she resided in my memory. I knew her. One of Thanos’s goons. And she was looking at me.

I felt a shiver go up my spine. Even from across the field and a hundred feet in the air, I could feel her eyes raking my body, and I could see her smile, stretching across her face, cold and malicious. Something was wrong— I could feel it.

Tony was nearly done, just a few more blasts and we could drop the wheels out of the sky, immobilized.

I watched her slowly pull what looked to be a small canon out from behind her and rest it on her shoulder, aimed straight at me.   
Tony was finished. He gave Strange and I the all clear but I couldn’t see it. My eyes were locked on the blast that was shooting through the sky towards me, hurtling faster every second. It hit me square in the chest sending me flying backwards towards the tower, and setting me firmly, deeply, in the ground. And the world went dark.


	32. Reinforcements

Branches scrapped across my face as I fell through the canopy behind the battlefield, the wind roaring in my ears. I bounced against the ground, once, twice, feeling something sip deep in me when I landed particularly harshly on a sharp rock, and finally coming to a stop under the thick foliage.

My head throbbed against the dirt as I fought the urge to let my consciousness drift away. The sounds of the battle beyond still rung through the trees, but they distorted as they reached my ears. It felt like I was under water; I could feel my body, I knew where I ended and where the ground began, but moving against the atmosphere was infuriating.

I heard Tony in my coms asking for a location, I saw him flying overhead, looking helplessly through the layers of leaves. I tried to speak. I opened my mouth to let the in air in, but all I could do was sputter and gasp. I’d had the wind knocked out of me before, but this? This was so much worse. The calls on the coms were getting more frantic and I could hear the woods rustling around me. Panic bled through me as I tried to look around me, trying to see what might be coming towards me. My heart was beating a million miles a minute. I tried again to breath, and this time found air. With a breath, I lifted my head off the ground, and my vision cleared. The rustling was getting closer now, and the fear that pricked me a moment ago flooded into my head. Something was coming towards me. I tried again to find my voice, to call for help, to do something. I felt all my bravery seep into the dirt below me. I took my remaining strength to gather myself up on my elbow and try to scurry another inch, another step away for whatever was coming towards me.

It was almost here now. I could still hear the voices calling out for me on thecoms. Tony, Bucky, Natasha, and—.

The bushes in front of me finally parted.

“ _Steve_.”

“I’ve got her,” the super soldier spoke into his com as he ran towards me. Concentration creased his face and there was even a thin sheen of sweat across his brow. He knelt next to me, his eyes immediately running over my body followed quickly by his hands, checking for injury, for puncture. He was professional, cold even as he checked over me methodically. I could feel the subtle shaking of his hands even if I couldn’t see it.

I squirmed underneath him, lifting myself higher off the ground and finding the movement surprisingly easy, but Steve still bristled at the change in position and quickly brought his knee behind my back to support me. I tried to catch his gaze but his wouldn’t look at me.

His hands hit a spot on my ribs that made me shudder and he slowed his movements, putting pressure on the spot again and feeling my heavy breath in reaction.

“Fractured rib,” he mumbled, continuing his journey up my body. He skated his fingers over my shoulders, my collar bone, up the scratches on my neck. His fingers flew over a deep scrape on the side of my neck, tracing the line up, towards my chin.

I was suddenly breathless for a very different reason.

His eyes ran over my face, counting the cuts. He traced them with his gaze and covered them with the palm of his hand. His eyes still wouldn’t land on mine. They were watching the flush spread on my cheeks, watching the hair stick to the blood and sweat that painted my brow.

“You’re alright,” he murmured, almost too low for me to hear. “You’re alright.” He repeated the mantra to himself as his hands ran to the back of my head, petting through my hair, checking again for cuts, bumps or bruises. His rush never ceased as as he pulled his face to mine and placed a firm kiss on my lips in an action that felt so natural, so thoughtless, I almost didn’t register its novelty.

I hardly had time to register the coarseness of his beard against my chin before he’d pulled away, his blue eyes finding mine with a mixture of shock and worry that passed in a wave of guilt and pity.

“Steve—,” I croaked.

He looked away, his face back to that mask of cold professionalism. His hands dropped from my hair and his gaze buried itself in the dirt beside me.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “I shouldn’t have done that.”

I felt a pang of embarrassment at his sudden turn. I lifted myself higher off the ground until I was sitting upright, reaching to bring his face back towards mine. Just to have him look at me. I put my hand on his cheek but his gripped my wrist and pulled it away from his skin. I felt my heart sink deep in my chest.

“Steve—.”

Bucky burst through the trees in front of me, surveying the pair of us with cautious, knowing eyes. Steve stood, slowly, now that my weight was no longer supported by his knee. His face was still downcast, and a familiar furrowed brow marked that extent of his guilt and worry.

“She’s alright,” he tried to speak with authority, but his voice cracked halfway through the thought. He cleared his voice, “Fractured rib, no concussion, just a couple of scrapes.”

Bucky came towards him, the worry clear on his face. I saw him attempt to put a questioning hand on the Captain’s soldiers, but Steve brushed it off, and turned an accusing eye towards him.

“You told me you’d watch her.”

Bucky’s defense lingered on his lip as Steve shoved past him, back towards the fight on the field. Barnes turned his confused face back towards me, clearly asking for some kind of explanation that I just didn’t know how to give.

Tony’s voice rang in my ear, “Who’s got Sparks? Is she alright? Do you need evac? Come on guys— _shit,_ gimme some answers here!”

I could hear Tony dodging fire as he barked into his com, and suddenly remembered that battle raging behind the tree line. I painstakingly lifted myself on to my feet.

Bucky came over to help support me, throwing an arm around my waist as I wobbled. “She’s alright,” he answered into his com, “just a little shaken up is all.” He turned his face towards me, “What the hell happened, doll?”

I grunted as I righted myself against him, the swaying subsiding as I forced myself perpendicular to the ground. “Some dumb bitch shot me with a very big gun.”

“No, that much I knew,” he mumbled, letting go of me slowly as he watched me regain my balance. “But what was that with Steve? I came over here and its like— shit, I don’t even know what that was, and I’ve known the jerk for a hell of a long time.”

I debated telling him what happened, but I still felt the pain of Steve’s rejection. _Rejection?_ I questioned the word in my head. I couldn’t even tell _what_ that was. It was too fast, too nervous. I wondered how much he could’ve changed in the years I’d been gone. How much could I have forgotten about him that I could no longer read his actions?

Bucky judged my silence with a single look of curiosity. I could tell he was trying to unravel my thoughts.

Against my better judgement, I tried to lie to the spy, stepping from foot to foot to test my senses. “He was just worried. Angry at me for getting hurt.”

Bucky raised his brows at my obvious lie. “Really, doll?”

_Shit._ “Ok, fine. I’m not good at lying to you, but I don’t know how to explain it.”

He came around to face me, letting the concern over take the curiosity on his face. He put his hands on my shoulders, “Just tell me what happened.”

“ _Barns!_ ”

A voice came over the coms and I let out an audible sigh of relief.

Bucky glared at me.

“If you two are coming back to the field, now would be a good time,” T’Challa’s voice was spotted by the obvious sounds of combat.

I took off into the trees, back towards the battle we’d briefly left.

Bucky groaned behind me, “This conversation is not over!”

I couldn’t help but smirk as I rang away from the dirt I’d landed in, feeling my body ache with every step, but still feeling it move freely through the air. With a newfound burst of confidence, I ran out to the field.

But I couldn’t step beyond the trees. It was like my feet were stuck in the dirt, I was frozen in place.

Bucky had long passed me, but stopped in confusion a few yards into the field. He turned back to find me lingering under the shade of the trees. He sighed and dropped his head, exasperated. He jogged back towards me.

“Look, I know it’s been a while since you were in a fight, doll, but this whole taking a break thing isn’t exactly how this works.”

I nodded, but still couldn’t bring myself to step back into the field.

Bucky’s charm turned quickly to worry, “What’s the matter?”

“I—,” I stuttered, “I don’t think I can fight. I— I fell, I can’t—.” I looked put at the scale of the battle, the damage being done. Four years ago I would’ve been the first out to help, to save people. But now I just saw the danger. People were dying and instead of thinking that I could help them, all I could think of was how I could so easy take their place if I walked out on to the field.

Bucky’s face twisted. “What are you talking about? You were running just a second ago. You were fine.”

“What happened to all that ‘You can stay back if you want to’ from before?” I retorted, still eying the field nervously.

“You can,” Bucky started before gripping my arm and turning me harshly until I was facing him, “but if you wanna go back because you’re scared, don’t tell me it’s because you can’t fight.”

“I’m not scared, “ I snapped back at him, “I’m just— I’m not ok, I just fell out of the sky. How can you not understand that?!”

“Not understa— listen, sweetheart,” he spat the word and his grip on my arm tightened, “I know a lot more about _falls_ than you do.”

I winced at his words.

He shook his head, but where I expected disgust I found only honest confusion. “What happened to you? I get it if you have to turn back, but this is the second time you’ve tried to lie to me in the past two minutes. I thought you trusted me.”

“I do, it’s just—,” I felt the tears welling in my eyes, “I just—.”

Bucky’s eyes shifted above me, his face suddenly changing in an instant. “Duck.”

I did as he ordered, crouching down on the dirt as he rose a gun to blast the creature that was leaping towards my turned back. I looked up at him, suddenly feeling younger than ever.

He continued surveying the field. “you don’t wanna go out there, fine. Stay. Go back inside. What do I care. But we’re defiantly talking about this later.” He stalked away, visibly still confused and bothered.

I rose from my crouched position to watch him go. My cowardice quickly replacing itself with a heavy shame. I still couldn’t budge from the tree cover, but I ran along the woods to shadow Bucky’s path. I tried to shake the worry from my gaze as I watched the battle unfolding in front of me. I knew I had to help, or at least try to.

I found the nearest fight. A cluster of soldiers cornering a creature close by. I grounded myself and focused on the creature. I wanted it down, down, lower. I increased the gravity on the creature, watching it scramble until it had fallen all the way to the ground. The soldiers pounced on it, taking it down with ease. I had no doubt they could’ve done the same without my help, but with one creature down, they were quickly able to move to the next.

I took a breath and moved a few steps further onto the field. I found the next fight, Natasha facing off with a couple of humanoid aliens. Again, I concentrated on her and her assailants, twisting my feet into the grass beneath me. In a beat, the alien was lifted into the air, confused for the briefest of moments, but more than long enough for Natasha to take it and slam it into the ground. She looked up, searching for a moment until she found me. She nodded her thanks and moved on to the next fight. I took another step on to the field.

Fight by fight I crept into the open space. Lifting and crushing the enemy forces one step at a time. The fear was still so present in my body, but I was pushing it further down every minute. I couldn’t let it stop me. Or at least, I couldn’t let anyone see it.

Soon I was standing fair into the left flank of the field, blasting nearby enemies with energy, lifting them high into the air and dropping them onto the ground below. I was methodical, mechanic. I was facing foes on every side and knocking them out thoughtlessly. I was terrified, but functioning.

But I missed one.

I heard Sam calling out my name and before I could register the warning in his voice, I was thrown out of the way by a strong arm. I hit the ground for the second time that day. I looked up to see a startling empty space beside me, but to my right, Steve was being carried off by the creature I had failed to notice.

“Steve!” I ran towards him, fighting the urge to throw a blast that might catch Steve instead of my target. “Steve!”

Sam was above him, and his voice carried through the coms. “I don’t have a clear shot, does anyone have a better angle?”

“Negative,” I panted into my com, running full force through the field that had left me so frozen just moments before. The creature was turning now, the super soldier still stuck in its jaw, it was going off the field, back towards the ships.

My heart stopped and I realized my safest action. I planted my feet and focused on the creature. It was difficult at the distance but I spent all my energy aiming at the beast, trying to lift it into the air. I saw it stumble, and felt a surge of hope. One foot wouldn’t reach the ground. Then another. It was lumbering clumsily now, the discomfort evident. I almost had it. I was so close—.

A thunderous blow shook me from my feet and sent me to the ground again. I stumbled to my knees to find the creature, only to see Steve limping away from it. The blast must’ve shook him lose from its grip. I relaxed for a second, relieved, but quickly noticed the creature slowly standing from behind him and fixing its eyes on its target. I opened my mouth to call out a warning, but the alien was zapped with a bolt before the words could leave my lips.

My shock gave way to joy as I turned to see Thor, Rocket, and Groot standing in the center of the field.

“Bring me Thanos!” the god yelled as he ran towards the army flooding through the hole in the force field. With a single strike he sent a current zapping through them, taking out ten, then fifteen, thirty in the span of a second.

With the path cleared, I ran towards Steve, finding Bucky also racing towards the Captain. He was still limping, and definitely scrapped to hell, but he was alive.

Bucky reached him first, slinging an arm around his middle to support him, “You ok?”

Steve nodded unconvincingly and continued to stumble forward.

Bucky and I shared a knowing look.

“We have to get him inside.”

Bucky nodded, and motioned for me to move over to Steve’s other side. I ducked under his arm and held him as Bucky had, trying to lift a bit of his weight from the ground. Together, and with a bit of gravity manipulation, Bucky and I drug Steve towards the center of the field.

“Need a hand?” Rhodey landed on the field in front of us.

Bucky nodded, and handed the nearly unconscious Steve over. “He’s hurt bad.”

Rhodey nodded, “I’ll get him to the medical center.”

Without another word the two men parted and I watched as Steve flew into the air in the arms of Rhodey.

Bucky and I were silent for a moment, sharing a look that was equal parts apologetic and understanding on both sides. He smiled at me, weakly and turned back towards the battle, but he froze. I could feel the tension of his body beside me and instinctively I turned, launching myself into the air to prepare for the next attack.

And immediately I felt my heart drop into my stomach as I looked across the field. Thor stood seething on the front lines, watching as the entire enemy army retreated behind the border of the force field, all of them swarming around the giant in their midst.

_Thanos._


	33. Logistics

Bucky and I were the last to arrive in the strategic quarters, and when we rounded the corner, the meeting room was already buzzing with conversation. The enemy line had pulled back beyond the force field, but the lack of attackers on the field was even more disquieting than the violence they had brought before.

I found T’Challa standing near the head of the table, deep in conversation with Okoye and Natasha. I found his eyes and crossed to the group as they opened their circle for me. Bucky followed close behind, his broad shoulders shadowing my path towards the king.

But I couldn’t quite close the distance before I was interrupted.

In a fraction of a second I was hoisted into the air, jostling my still sore body, but still stretching a smile I couldn’t fight across my face.

“You’ve returned to us!” Thor bounced me off his shoulder and into two outstretched arms, letting my dangle like a kitten. I laughed as he set me on the ground, his smile infectious to the onlookers that had been so full of worry only moments ago.

I rushed back towards the god to hug him tightly. “I missed you.”

“Alright, take it easy,” Bucky swatted the god’s shoulder, to break his tight hold on me. “We don’t need her any more bruised than she already is.”

Thor backed away from me, cheerfully, stepping directly on to the tail of Rocket. The raccoon screamed an expletive you’d never expect from a creature that looked like it popped out of a Disney cartoon, and swerved away from the god, its annoyance clear in its grimace.

“Jesus,” Rocket grumbled, rubbing his injured tail. He quickly shifted his attention to me and crossed his arms over his chest. “So, you’re that girl, the one that knows what’s going on?”

I nodded, “Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.”

“So how long until we beat this guy— or you know what, better question: how long till I get rich enough to buy my own planet cause I have my eye on this truly bea—.”

Thor lifted Rocket up by the scruff of his neck and pointed to him with a childlike smile, “This is rabbit. He’s been a keen ally these past few hours.”

Rocket squirmed out of his grasp and landed back on the floor mumbling something about gods and getting paid.

Thor was unfazed by Rocket as he continued. “And this is tree,” he pointed across the table to Groot who was leaning nonchalantly against the wall, although the nervous flicks of his eyes around the room betrayed his anxiousness.

I nodded at the unnecessary introductions, feeling the unease grow in my stomach as I realized how soon they might be asking to see their teammates downstairs, and how soon after that they may grow to share their resentment of myself and the team around me.

T’Challa saved me from my thoughts as he leaned around the god to address me. “Are you alright?”

Natasha also wove around Thor, nudging him with a friendly elbow to place him between herself and Okoye. She looks at me with a half joking worry. “Hell of a fall you took there,” she teased dryly. “Thought we might’ve actually gotten rid of you for good this time.”

I grinned at her and rolled my eyes, “I’m fine.” I shifted my gaze towards T’Challa’s worried eyes, “Really.” My head quickly flicked to the more pressing order of business. “Steve? What about Steve? Is he ok?”

“He’s alright,” Wanda’s voice came from behind me.

I turned, letting our conversation open up to the quieting room.

“He’s alright,” she repeated. “Shuri is seeing to him with the doctors now. A bit of blood loss and a minor ankle injury, but with his healing and the medical advancements here, they say he should be up and ready by tomorrow or the day after.”

Bucky sighed. “That means he’ll be trying to sneak out of the hospital in the next hour or two.” He looked to T’Challa, “You’ve got enough opinions in the room already; I’m gonna go make sure _the Captain_ doesn’t do anything stupider than usual.” Bucky gave my shoulder a quick squeeze before fleeing the meeting room for what would surly be a far less bureaucratic conversation in the floors below.

Left super soldier-less, the crowded room settled into the seats around the long table. T’Challa stood at one head of the table while Tony dropped himself in the chair on the other side, and the rest of us filed in somewhere between them.

“Well, as you can—.”

“With the enemy—.”

Both men stopped as their words clashed in the air and there was a tangible intolerance that rose around that table.

Stark backpedaled, “Your Majesty, of course, yes continue.”

T’Challa, remarkably amused by the older man’s outburst, nodded his thanks and continued.

“The enemy has pulled back. But it is clear that they are waiting for something. Planning something. And the giant among them—I can only assume this is the titan you spoke of, yes?” He looked to Tony, who nodded his head slowly and solemnly. T’Challa took in a deep breath. “Then he’s finally here. And he’s come for the stones.” He shifted his gaze towards me. “Is there anything else we should know.”

I felt the eyes of the table on me, but I shook my head. “No, I’m sorry. We’ve gone off script, I’m flying blind.”

The worry around the room sat heavily on the table, the weight of the situation falling hard around me. This is farther than I’d ever gotten in terms of changing the reality of this adoptive world. The changes I’d made before, they were nothing compared to this. But now that’d I’d done it, now that I’d truly altered the course of this story, I had no idea what would come next. Or even, if it the reality I’d brought them would be better than the one they’d avoided.

The king pressed his lips into a thin line— taking in the worry around the room. He looked to Wanda. “Has there been any progress with the stone downstairs?”

“Yes,” Wanda stood, eagerly, happy, like the rest of us, to have a bit of good news in the room. “Shuri has nearly dislodged the stone safely from Vision’s head, she thinks it will be done before the end of the day.”

“Do you still think you can destroy it?” Natasha asked.

Wanda took a thoughtful beat, but nodded. “I think so. I have to try at least.”

“Well, we’re set then, we’ve won,” Tony piped up at the end of the table, “Thanos needs all the stones to succeed, if we can destroy the mind stone—.”

“It won’t be enough.” Thor spoke with a gloomy authority. “These stones are some of the most powerful objects in our universe, destroying one won’t keep Thanos from killing as many as he can.”

“He’s right,” I agreed, drawing the eyes of the table again. “Even if we destroy the mind stone, if he gets the time stone he can just go back and change the action. Or if he gets the reality stone maybe he can just conjure up the mind stone again. I don't know what the rules are with these stones, but I know the fight isn’t over until Thanos _and_ the stones are both gone for good.”

“Well, actually, the time stone is under my protection and therefore cannot be—.”

“ _We know_ ,” I cut Strange off curtly, “and I can promise you that as the most useful stone we have, we will most definitely destroy that stone _last_ , but it will still be destroyed.” I steadied my glare as he prepared his defense. “And there is literally no room for discussion. Thanos is far from the only person to come looking for the stones. If we have one, we’re a target. They all have to go.”

“And what do we do without their protection?” Pietro asked.

“Look around the room,” Bruce said, the statement dripping with sarcasm, but his words sent a respectful breath through the room. A table full of the most powerful people in the world, in the universe, all come together to fight a common enemy.

“Yeah, you guys seem to be doing alright in my book,” Rocket’s drawl interrupted the moment. “I mean your tech is worse than most third or fourth tier planets but you are from an outer rim world so really—.”

“I’m sorry, our tech is, what?” Tony’s pride spoke out.

“It’s cute really the way you guys have been dealing with such a disadvantage, at least with those big suits, I mean, the stuff around here,” Rocket gestured around the Wakandan building, “this is much more impressive.”

“Well, listen if you’re given the materials of course you’re going to have all this... this,” Tony sputtered, “new, tech, stuff, _but_ what’s really impressive is what someone can do with limited materials and—.”

“We get it.” Natasha silenced the scientist with a warning hand. “You can talk engineering later. What we really need to be focusing on is destroying these other stones.” She looked to me, “Do you have any idea how to do that?”

“Yes,” I spoke quickly, happy to be useful. “I know that the only thing that might be able to destroy the stones is their own power. That’s why Wanda will hopefully be able to destroy the mind stone. The only question now,” I hesitated, “is if we can use the power of the stones against each other. If we can destroy one stone with the power of another or if each stone has to be destroyed with its own signature.”

“I will have our labs look into this,” T’Challa spoke up. “As soon as Shuri has removed the soul stone from Vision, I’ll have her and her team begin dissecting the nature of the stones.” He looked to Bruce, “You have experience with this, yes? Would you help?”

“Oh,” Bruce nodded, “oh, yeah, sure, sure.”

“Good.” T’Challa sighed, “Then the rest of us stand by for the next attack. We should have a few reinforcements coming but we can’t know if they’ll be here before Thanos attacks. We’ll split into shifts to watch during the night. We’ll have to be ready for anything.”

There was a quiet around the room.

“So that’s it?”

“ _Tony_ ,” Rhodey protested.

“No, really— _that’s_ the plan?” He looked around the table incredulously. “We’re all just going to try to keep fighting and, what, _hope_ that we find a way to destroy the stones?”

There was another hush over the table.

“What else can we do?”

Sam’s words hung heavy in the air as we all recognized their potency.

Tony scoffed and stood, storming out of the room in a mix of disbelief and panic. There was a shakiness to his canter that I knew lived in the realm of his fear and insecurity. I glanced over to Rhodey, who had already begun to follow Tony out of the room, comforting murmurs already chasing Stark as he left.

Natasha cut through their voices as they bickered in the hallway. “If some of us are going to be taking a night shift in a few hours, we better get some rest know.” She looked around the room, asking for silent permission from T’Challa which was quickly granted. “I’ll send out the shift assignments later.” She stood, stirring the rest of the room into movement as she left.

I followed the crowd out of the room, weaving carefully between the heroes and trying to make myself small amongst them. I felt out of place here, as if too much time had passed. And after the way I had felt today… that fear. I felt less like a part of this team than I ever had before.

I heard Thor calling my name from behind me, searching for my head within the crowd, Rocket sitting on his shoulders searching for me. A deep dread filled me as I hurried towards the elevators, wanting so much to avoid facilitating the reunion of the Guardians, wanting so much to leave behind the questions of how and why and what can we do now. I felt my cowardice creep into my throat as I slipped into the elevator beside Sam and watched the door slide shut, leaving a confused Thor looking from my in the emptying hallway.

“Going somewhere?” Sam’s solemn voice jolted me in my nerves. He noticed my jump and raised a brow at my shaken state. “You just look like you‘re in a hurry.”

I took a breath and nodded. “Yeah— yeah, I was going down to the medical wing. To see Steve.” My throat closed at the mention of his name and I watched Sam’s face twist in suspicion from the corner of my eye.

But he was kind enough to brush his questions aside with a small smile. “That’s where I’m going too.”

The elevator came to a stop and the door slid open again.

Sam stepped out. “Come on,” he stood into the hallway calling behind him, “let’s go see our Captain.”

———————————————————————————————————————

We saw Bucky waiting outside the medical room, staring at the phone in his hands and trying with great effort to type out a text with just one finger. He turned when he heard us coming down the hallway, his furrowed brow relaxing and his phone finding a home in his pocket.

“Good, you’re here. I was just texting you.”

“Just _trying_ to text us you mean,” Sam interjected. “Seriously man, I know you’ve got one arm but you do have more than one finger.”

Bucky grimaced, but Sam changed the subject before he could retort.

“How is he?” Sam leaned towards the cracked door of the hospital room.

“The jerk? Oh, he’s fine,” Bucky crossed the hall and poked the door open with his boot to reveal a bruised and very asleep Steve. “They gave him half a dozen sleeping meds though, after I told them he wouldn’t stay down with out them.” He pulled the door closed, to avoid waking the heavily sedated soldier. “They said all he needs now is rest.”

I stepped forward to keep Steve in my line of sight as the door closed. He looked fine, amazingly, after what he’d been through. After what he’d saved me from. A pang of guilt hit me, and the complicated feelings that had risen from our conversation on the battlefield ran through my head again.

Sam read my silence. “Maybe we should get the doctors to look at her too…”

“Oh, no,” Bucky said, “ _she’s_ _fine_.” With a pointed look, he grabbed my arm and drug me into a dark, empty room across the hall with Sam close behind. He, as gently as he could, placed me seated on the bed while he planted himself firmly on the small couch beside the bed, his arms crossed not unlike an angry toddler. Sam landed next to him, perched on the arm of the couch, a confused look on his face and he hesitantly copied Bucky’s posture and waited to hear what all the fuss was about.

It was quiet while they waited for me to speak.

‘Well—.”

"First off," Bucky interrupted me and I rolled my eyes, "are you actually ok?"

I was taken aback, but I nodded. The pain in my body had subsided to a few bruises and a headache but not much more.

"You're sure?"

"Bucky, yes, I'm sure. I told you before, why do you keep asking me?"

"Because I don't want to yell at you if you're injured."

My heart sank.

“What the hell were you doing out there? We told you, if you weren’t ready, you should stay bak. We can’t be out there worried about you when we’ve got our own backs to worry about.”

My cheeks burned in frustration and embarrassment at the validity of his words, but he didn’t stop.

“And what in the _fuck_ was going on with you and Steve in the woods?”

“Wait, what?” Sam chimed in, suddenly scandalized.

“No!” I yelled, suddenly embarrassed for a far more juvenile reason. “Nothing! Nothing happened!” I paused, thinking, “Well, nothing like that, nothing that bad—.”

“Nothing _that_ bad?” Sam stood now, arms crossing more and more fiercely with every passing second. “Well, how bad are we talking here?”

“It’s not— we just— UGH!” I flopped back on the bed, covering my face with my hands. “He was just mad at me,” I mumbled through my palms. “He was worried about me at first, and then he realized I was alright and he was mad at me. That’s all.” I kept my face hidden in the hopes that Bucky wouldn’t catch the third half truth I’d told him today. It wasn’t exactly a lie— that was what happened, it’s just that…

“And that was it?” Bucky’s eyes pried my fingers from my face from across the room, and I found myself peaking over at him from my draped position on the bed. Even sideways, his face was suspicious.

“Yes.” I answered with all the confidence I could muster, my stomach twisting with the simple word.

Bucky pressed his lips into a thin line and stood. He looked at Sam, who met his clouded face with a calm, concentrated look and a shrug. But Bucky wasn’t going to let this go.

“Fine, don’t tell me.” He started to storm out of the room.

I stood now, fuming with indignation. “Well, why _should_ I tell you everything? I don’t owe you every detail of my life— it’s _my_ life.”

He stopped in the doorway and glanced at me over an angry shoulder. “You’re right.” He turned, “I don’t need to know. I don’t need to know if you’re _really_ ready to go into battle. It’s not like I’ll have to protect you. I don’t need to know if you're injured or just scared. It’s not like I have to watch out for you.” He came towards me, his tall figure blocking out the light from the doorway, reminding me just how murderous he was capable of looking. “And I _definitely_ don’t need to know what happened between you and my best friend. Because it _definitely_ won’t land him in a hospital bed.”

My stomach landed like lead in my feet as his last words hit me.

“You’re right,” Bucky growled. “I don’t need to know. You don’t need to tell me. It’s not like I'd trust you enough to believe it anyway.”

He left the room, slamming the door with a bang behind him, and leaving Sam and I alone.


	34. Heartbreak

I sat slowly on the bed behind me, letting the blood pound through my head. I reached back, grabbed the pillow, and brought it to my face, letting out a muffled scream. I heard Sam say my name softly from the couch.

“Kid, what the fuck is _up_?”

I felt him stand and sit on the bed next to me, but kept my face buried in the pillow. His hand gripped the pillow and pulled it, none to gently from my face.

“What the hell?” I whined indignantly. “What happened to all that nice shit you guys were telling me before?”

“That was before you starting acting so shifty!” Sam’s annoyance was palpable. “I don’t know whatever tough time you’re having right now, but we’re out here fighting something we’ve never had to face before. So whatever you’re dealing with, you’ve gonna keep us in the know or keep it off the field, but clearly you don’t seem interested in doing either.” His face softened. “Why won’t you talk to Bucky?”

I shook my head, “It’s not his business! I shouldn’t have to tell him everything, it’s not like he’s my boss— he’s not even my _captain_.”

“Ok, fine,” Sam said, “you won’t talk to him as a captain, but why won’t you talk to him as a friend?”

My shoulders fell. I felt like I’d been fighting all day even though I’d only been on the field for a couple of hours. “I just—,” my head rolled back and I studied the ceiling, “I just feel stupid.” I laughed, “It really is stupid. I mean it’s so… juvenile? I don’t even know if that’s the word.” I looked at Sam, and saw eyes that I trusted. I took a deep breath. “I’m scared.” I started to cry, as if all the pressure from the fight in the field, the fight on Titan, all of it fell from my shoulders and pooled on the floor. “It’s like for the first time I’m going in the field and I’m actually realizing that I could die. And it’s been— _years_. Years since I fought. Years since I’ve seen any of you. And Bucky especially I mean he’s…he’s great, he’s better, but he’s like a completely new person. I just— I feel like I missed so much.” I blinked fast to clear my eyes, trying to calm myself down, “And I know I’m different too. I’ve changed. And as scared as I am of dying—.”

Sam sat by me as my tumbling words slowed, and he waited, silently, for my to finish that last thought that it’d taken me so long to say out loud.

“As scared as I am of dying, I’m more scared of letting him realize that I’ve grown into a coward.”

Sam nodded, the understanding uncrossing his arms and bringing him to lean forward on his knees. “And that’s why you won’t talk to him. That’s why you won’t tell him why you really don’t want to go back on the field.”

“I didn't said that.”

“You didn’t have to.” He looked at me, “You’re right, you did change. A lot. You’re older, sure, but you’re still you.” He smirked, “And I still know you.”

I sighed. “Fine, I don’t want to go back on the field. I _want_ to want to go back, it’s just…”

“No, I get it.” Sam put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “It’s hard, especially when you lose that momentum. The training, I mean, it goes stale.” He stood from the bed and knelt in front of me, taking my hand in his hands in a surprisingly genuine moment for the gilt soldier. “You know, none of us blame you for being gone. None of us blame you for being out of practice. And none of us could _ever_ blame you for being scared.” He smiled, “Besides, look at where we are now. Without you, we all would’ve been dead by now. Or at least, half of us.”

I smiled back at him, relief washing over me as I realized the truth in his words.“Thank you,” I whispered.

“Don’t mention it.” He stood and settled back into the couch. “We’ll get you back training again and we’ll keep you in the air lookout and backup next time we’re out there. Close enough to save face, but far enough that none of us will have to worry about you getting killed, mostly you.”

I felt giddy, “Thank you, that’s perfect, that’s—.”

“Now, for the next problem.”

I looked up at him, surprised.

He glanced nonchalantly off towards the door, “What happened with Steve?”

My heart flew to my throat as I tried to mumble a response, but Sam spoke before I could brush him off.

“Bucky, recovered or not, does not get that worked up over ‘nothing,’ and you,” he raised a brow at me, “do not get turn red over something that didn’t happen.”

I tried to cover the flush on my cheeks with my palms and failed spectacularly as it spread over my face. “It’s stupid.”

“It’s obviously not.”

“It’s embarrassing.”

“Then I really can’t wait to hear it.” Sam chuckled, “Just tell me.”

“Steve kissed me.”

Sam’s face fell. “Steve what?”

“He kissed me. After I got hit. He kissed me and then— wait, Sam?” I stood and ran after Sam who had fled into the hallway and stopped dead just short of Steve’s door.

“Shit,” he mumbled, looking at the Captain’s still sleeping face.

“Sam!” I whispered, dragging him into the doorway of the room he’d just run from. “What the hell?”

He was still looking irritatedly at the doorway across the hall. “Son of a bitch.”

Now _I_ was annoyed. “Sam, what are you talking about? I told you, it’s fine it’s no big deal, it’s just—.”

He face snapped back to mine, “You _cannot_ tell Barnes.”

My heart stopped. “What? What do you mean? Do— do you think he won’t believe me? Do you think he’ll be mad?”

“What— mad? No, no, I just can’t afford to lose another bet to that asshole.” He looked at me seriously, “Really, I mean it’s great that he’s all recovered, but he can be such a dick— especially when he's right.”

“When he’s right—,” I was flabbergasted. “Sam!” I smacked him hard on the arm.

“Hey!” He rubbed his arm in dejection. “What?!”

“You were betting on Steve kissing me?!”

“What, did you expect us not to?”

“No— I mean, yes! I mean—.”

“Look,” Sam crossed his arms, “if you’d seen the way he was when you left… He was a wreck. Didn’t eat. Didn’t sleep. He even sorted out all his shit with Tony just so he could help him find a way to get you back.” He smiled, “And when you got back? Still you, but older, less of the kid you were when we first met you? I swear it’s like it was Christmas for that bastard. This morning was the happiest I’ve seen him in years.”

I felt my blood rushing back onto my cheek with a force.

“So naturally the second we saw him walking you to your room— I mean…” Sam laughed, “I didn’t think he’d last the week, but Bucky knew he wouldn’t last the day.”

I wanted to smile but remembered what had happened after Steve kissed me.

Sam squinted at my falling face. “Why didn’t you tell Bucky?”

“Well,” I leaned against the doorframe. “After he kissed me he—,” I swallowed a lump in my throat, “he said he shouldn’t’ve. He apologized. And I didn’t want to tell Bucky because I was embarrassed. And he's so close to Steve I didn't want him telling him that I got all worked up over something that's really not that big a deal. But apparently I’ve lost all self respect because I’m still telling you.”

Sam sighed and rolled his eyes, “That damn idiot.” He looked at me, “I’m sorry. You know Steve, he’s got… reservations. I mean, you’re young, and he’s always wanted to protect you.” He threw a hand on my shoulder. “Just ignore him for now ok? Buck and I will talk to him— even if it means I lose another bet.”

I looked up at him and stepped forward to wrap my arms over his shoulders. “Thank you. Again.”

He laughed, “Anytime, shortstop.”

We broke away from the much needed hug when Sam’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and frowned.

“We’ve got company.”

I took in a breath, but his frown changed with the second buzz.

“But not the bad kind.”

Sam and I half ran back to the elevator, riding up to meet T’Challa on the landing pad. We arrived just as the ship was landing.

“How’d they get past the army?” Sam asked.

“We have the best cloaking in the world, Wilson.” T’Challa answered. “Getting a ship past a couple of aliens might be hard for you, but in Wakanda,” he raised a confident brow at Sam who rolled his eyes. “Anything is possible.”

The ship hangar opened. I left T’Challa, Sam, and the few others that had gathered and walked towards it, a smile already on my lips as I remembered who it carried.

“Clint!”

The archer ran off the walk way and swung me into his arms. “Jesus Christ, I thought we’d never see you again.”

I laughed and squeezed him tighter before looking over his shoulder. “Scott!”

Lang ran towards us with a smile and joined in the hug, wrapping his arms around the both of us. “Oh, god is it good to see you.”

“Wha— Jesus, Scott, lay off,” Clint shrugged Scott off, but neither off them could shake their smiles.

There was someone else coming off the carrier too, but not who I expected.

“Oh, hey, yeah, by the way,” Scott walked towards the woman from the aircraft. “This is Hope, she’s here to help.”

She nodded a powerful welcome and I grinned.

“Glad to have you— I’ve seen what you can do.”

She returned the smile, “Just trying to help.”

I looked behind them for the next arrival, but Clint followed my gaze and corrected me.

“Fury’s not coming. He’s helping the UN prepare defenses just in case Thanos expands his attack. But he did call the contact you mentioned, now I don’t know when she’ll get here, but he said we’d know when we saw her.”

“He’s definitely right about that.” I grinned, “I’m glad you’re here. I’m sorry to take you away from your family.” I looked between the two men. “Both of your families.”

“From what I hear, it’s a much better deal for us to be here now than to let Thanos win,” Scott quipped. “That is his name right?”

Clint rolled his eyes, and looked past me to T’Challa. “Where do you need us, your majesty?”

“This way,” T’Challa nodded them towards the building, “I’ll have Okoye give you your watch shifts and then we can brief you on—.”

The ground shook beneath us and we looked towards the far side of the field. There was a wall of fire all up the side of the force field illuminating the evening sky. There was another blast.

“Looks like that briefing’s gonna have to wait.”

———————————————————————————————————————

I ran to the field, close on Sam’s heels, another blast rocking the ground as we reached the edge of the tree line.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Sam slowed for a moment, grabbing my arm, “You remember what I talked about right?”

I nodded.

“Alright.” He pressed a finger to his com, “Sparks and I are taking the skies.”

“Copy,” I heard Stark’s voice through his earpiece, “Just get out here.”

Sam looked at me, “You ready? Really ready?”

“Yes,” I said, surprisingly confident in my answer, “Yeah, I’m ready.”

He gave me a soft smile. “Let’s go.”

Together we launched into the air, flying up to meet Tony, Rhodey, and Strange above the field. From the height it was easy to calculate the complexities of the field; although there was nothing too complex about the sight below us. Swarms of Thanos’s men were bringing charges to the base of the force field and scampering back to the ships before blowing them to high holy hell. On our side, there were lines of soldiers standing at the ready, with members of the team scattered amongst them.

“It’s not gonna be long till they breach that shield…” Tony muttered. He looked around, “Everyone ready?”

The four of us in the air nodded while the T’Challa lead a chant among the ground forces. For the second time today we’d be going into battle, but the weary were restless as the enemy pawed at the gate.

“Alright,” Tony said. “Let ‘em in.”

The field split in front of us and the creatures on the other side came flowing in just as before. Our forces charged at them, the lines colliding in the center of the field. There was immediate bloodshed on both sides and my head began to swim.

“Hey!”

Sam’s voice shook my focus.

“Remember the mission,” he told me. “Help where you can, and stay out of range.”

I steadied myself and nodded, flying lower down but keeping my distance from the blaster wielding aliens in the back lines. I found a group led by T’Challa taking down a group of three beasts at once. I focused a strong blast at the lead creature, sending it to the ground and distracting the other two long enough for T’Challa and his men to attack. The king looked up at me with a thankful nod which I returned before finding my next fight.

I flew from corner to corner of the field, taking out lone creatures and aiding those who were fighting them face to face. I threw a creature attacking Clint at a nearby rock. I electrified the tip of Okoye’s spear while she fought off a particularly large… thing? It didn’t live long enough to inspire a real definition. I even threw a subversive alien that had snuck behind the main battle straight over Bucky’s head, after it had taken aim at the soldier’s back. That one may have earned me a biting glare, but the satisfaction of the action was well worth it.

I saw Nat, fighting off one of the humanoid aliens on the front line. I lifted her assailant off the ground and threw it into a group of its peers. The group of them clamored from the ground and set unfriendly eyes at me.

_Shit._

They pointed their blasters my way, leaving me to dodge and swerve in the sky.

“Jesus, Sparks. I said low profile!” Sam snapped at me, flying low and throwing a string of grenades at the source of the gunfire.

“Sorry!” I swung a hard turn to float high above the field, well out of range. I was taking a moment to gather my senses and surgery the field when I noticed something moving from behind the sheen of smoke from Sam’s grenades. Something big.

Thanos emerged from the smoke, golden armor and all, flanked by a host of his men.

“Guys,” I spoke nervously into my com, “he’s on the field. Thanos is on the field.”

I watched the heads turn to watch the Titan as he came onto the battle field. A mixture of fear and dread rippled through the army as they watched him and his henchmen pace further into the clearing.

And something deep in me told me exactly what was going to happen next.

“ _Pietro!_ ”

I watched as a streak of blue split the fielding in the blink of an eye, Pietro was facing the giant. I rocketed down to the field, running to the empty circle where Pietro stood in front of Thanos. In another flash he had struck the titan across his face and ran back to his position between me and him.

“You are not so tough now, no?” he taunted.

Thanos laughed, clutching the jaw Pietro had just hit at the speed of sound. “You’re out of your depth boy.” Thanos’s eyes snapped to me, recognition flashing over his face, “It’s you.”

“Please,” I begged Pietro, “you’re smarter than this. Don’t try and take him alone.”

“I’m not alone,” Pietro smirked, and turned back to look at me, “I have you, Printessa.” He sped back towards Thanos and attempted to deliver another hit, but the titan was ready this time and flung Pietro back with ease, sending him to the dirt in front of me and knocking him out cold.

“You should listen to the girl.” Thanos teased, turning his eyes to me. “She seems to have far more sense than you.” He walked towards me, the rage that had colored his face when I’d last seen him turning now into a bewildered curiosity.

My blood ran cold. I pressed a finger to my coms, “Backup. I need back up.”

“We’re coming,” I heard Sam’s voice, “We’re coming, we just— _agh_!”

I looked over and saw Sam getting torn out of the sky by a massive catlike alien that emerged from behind Thanos.

“Sam!”

I went to run to him, but Thanos’s men boxed me in.

“Don’t worry,” the titan cooed, “my men will keep them busy.” He stopped in front of me. “You’re the one that stole my stones.”

I put on my bravest face and nodded.

“Hm,” he hummed, looking over my as if he were dissecting me. “My sources tell me that you are not of this universe. That you come from a place where this is all just stories.”

I looked around frantically. There was no way I could take him on my own. Strange was facing some alien sorcerer on the left flank while Tony was occupied by a rhino-esque creature on the right.

Thanos captured my chin between two large fingers, kneeling in front of me and turning my face to his. “How nice would it be, if all this was just a story.” He looked at me, examined me like an animal. “Apparently, your knowledge of our story lets you change it. The premonition of the events you most despise allows you to change them.” He stood, his figure shadowing me from the red light of the sunset. “This power is what let you steal my stones.” He looked to Pietro, laying crumpled beside me. “I wonder what else it has let you do.” He reached down with a giant hand and grabbed Pietro by the neck.

“No!” I screamed, but Thanos’s men held me back. I flung them off of me, sending them yards into the field, but there were more to take their place. They held my by the arms, forcing me to my knees.

“Do you try to save them?” Thanos asked, dangling Pietro in the air and watching him sway slowly from his hand.

“Please,” I begged, crying.

He shook his massive head at me, looking down at me with pity. “No, child. You cannot cry for them. To save a life that has been marked by destiny creates unbalance. It’s just the way of things.” He shifted his grip until he held Pietro by the throat.

“Backup!” I cried out again, screaming out to anyone who could hear me. “Please! Please! I need help!”

Thanos tightened his fingers and Pietro began to shake and quiver in his grip.

“ _No_!” I screamed, flinging his men from me again and standing to land a blast to Thanos’s chest, but the titan barely stumbled back.

“You have power,” he remarked, cringing as he wiped the char from his armor. “But power has no foothold against destiny.” He twisted his wrist and I watched as Pietro went limp in his hand.

I screamed out again and fell to the ground, weeping as Thanos dropped Pietro’s body in front of me, blue eyes staring out to nothing. I felt a large hand come to cradle the back of my head as I cried.

“There, child. It’s alright. You cannot try to save them. The only safety a cursed soul can find is in the hands of death.” He brushed my hair back softly as I listened to the calls on the coms asking for reports I couldn’t find the will to give. “There, there, little one.”

Thanos stood, looking over the field. He called one of his men to his side. “Pull our forces back for the night,” he commanded.

I looked up at him, tear streaked and furious, but his face only reflected the same pity as before.

“I will give you time to mourn, and tomorrow I will come for the stones.” He began to walk away, but turned back to look at me again. “Don’t waste too many tears for him, there will be more deaths to come. And besides,” he turned away from me again, “he was only a story.”


	35. Can't Take Another Heartbreak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! I promise chapters will be up faster from now on :)

I ran from my bed to the bathroom, emptying my stomach into the toilet bowl until I was empty of everything but the sobs that racked through me. I threw my face in my hands and shook on the bathroom floor, angry for the sleep that had left me again that night. I could feel the toil the restlessness and grief was taking on my body as I fought tostagger towards the bed again, tucking myself into tear stained sheets for the third time in the past eight hours. Out my window, the sun was starting to dust the leaves of the trees with the early grey of dawn. I surrendered my body to the bed as I watched the light change in the garden. Sleep wouldn’t come again, that much I knew, but my body still needed to rest— needed to rest for what would come next.

I shook the intruding thought from my mind. _No, no I can’t think out that. I have to rest_. I squeezed my eyes shut and took a breath. I didn’t want to think of it. Any of it. I didn’t want to think about the army waiting for us. I didn’t want to think about Thanos coming back for the stones. I didn’t want to think about Quill and his friends wondering what happened to their teammate. I didn’t want to think about Wanda, already worried about Vision and now— now… And God, I didn’t want to think about Pietro. Pietro, counting on me. Pietro, taunting a god. Pietro, being thrown to the dirt. Pietro, laying in front of me like a broken doll.

I turned over and screamed into my pillow, the sobs coming all over again. The panic at this world I’d left behind so many years ago, only to be thrown back into it, completely unprepared and utterly terrified, all of it overwhelming me.

There was a frantic knock on my door and I heard someone calling my name. I pulled myself out of bed and wiped away my tears with shaking hands as I went to open the door.

Bucky stood in sweats and a tee shirt in my doorframe, worry clear in his eyes, but his concern was replaced with pity when he read my red eyes. In a heartbeat, he took me into his arms, pressing my head into his chest.

“I heard you yelling, doll. ‘Thought you might be in trouble.”

I sighed, “Sorry. I tried to be quiet.”

He scoffed. “Super soldier hearing, remember?” He picked me up put and carried me back to bed. “You need to sleep.”

“ _You’re_ awake,” I grumbled, settling back on to the bed beside him.

“Yeah, but I slept all night, and by the looks of it, you can’t say the same.” He moved to stand back up, but I grabbed his arm.

“Wait,” I was suddenly frantic. “Can you stay for a while? I can’t sleep and I just keep—,” my voice faltered as the tears came back. “I just keep thinking about how he said he had me, he _counted_ on me, and I— I couldn’t save him. Bucky, I couldn’t save him.”

“Hey, hey, hey.” He turned to face me on the bed. “I’ll stay. I’ll stay. Look, I know losing a,” he looked at me and measured his next word, “teammate, it hits hard. And I know that with him it was… complicated for you.” He put a friendly hand on my knee, “But nothing was your fault. He made his choices, and they were his to make. Saying what happened was your fault— it discredits the calls he made. He went down fighting.”

I shook my head, the tears stilled on my cheeks. “You haven’t really had this kind of talk with people before, have you?”

The corner of his mouth flicked up, “I thought I was doing alright. Steve’s usually better at this part.”

I laughed and cried in the same breath in that ridiculous way that bodies do when the emotions don’t know what else to do. “I know you’re right though. I know it, I just can’t believe it.”

Bucky nodded. “I understand. Maybe Steve can talk some sense into you when he gets out of the med bay today.” He looked out the window at the rising sun. “Look we’ve got the team meeting at nine and you have to get some sleep. You’re not gonna be saving anyone in this state. I’ve got this thing in my room. The princess gave it to me for the nightmares. If I give it to you, do you think you can at least try and sleep for a while?”

I nodded.

“Ok. I’ll be back in a second, try not to think too much while I’m gone.” He stood from the bed and walked towards the door.

“Hey, Bucky?”

He stopped and looked back at me.

“I’m sorry. For everything. The fighting and keeping secrets and I just—.”

“Don’t worry,” Bucky grinned, “Sam told me everything.”

I winced. “Everything?”

“ _Everything_.”

I groaned and flopped back on to the bed, but Bucky just laughed.

“Ya can’t keep a secret from me for too long, doll.”

I smiled a real, genuine smile and marveled at the action. I looked up at Bucky with grateful eyes. “Thank you. So much.”

“We’re a team. I’ve got your back.” He smiled. “Always.”

———————————————————————————————————————

Four hours later, Bucky and Sam were at my door again.

“You ready?” Sam asked, his gear slung over his back.

“Ready? Jesus, Sam,” I asked exasperated, “last time I saw you you were being carted off to the med bay. I saw you get torn out of the sky!”

Sam scoffed, “Yeah well, some of us aren’t as delicate as Captain Rogers.”

Bucky rolled his eyes, “Shuri gave him a serum and his two bruises healed in a few minutes.” He glared at Sam. “And don’t forget who saved your ass from that thing.”

“That is a matter of opinion,” Sam started walking towards the elevators and Bucky followed him, keeping up a playful banter that I knew was for my benefit. To distract me.

I willed it to work. But the questions that were eating at me wouldn’t stop.

“Is—,” I cleared my throat as the elevator doors slid closed, “Is Wanda going to be there? At the meeting?”

“I don’t know,” Sam looked to Bucky who shrugged. “I guess we’ll all find out.”

It was quiet as the elevator rose floor by floor and the thoughts that had plagued me the night before surrounded me in the silence. The army. The war. The stones. Thanos. Wanda. Gamora. Pietro. _Pietro_. How could I do anything to stop this? I’ve done everything I could and now? It’s like everything I worked for is slipping away.

“What are we going to do?” I asked the air around us.

Bucky looked at me, “What we can.”

The elevator doors opened.

“Come on,” Sam said as he led the way towards the meeting room.

Rounding the corner, we saw T’Challa talking with Strange at the far end of the table, and sitting between them at the head of the table was a very focused Steve Rogers.

Bucky broke the tension between us before it could congeal in the room. “Well, look who finally decided to show up.” He walked to the far side of the room with Sam and I in tow. “How are you feeling?”

Steve’s jaw clenched and I noticed the effort he made not to look at me. “I’ve been better.”

I tried to hide the sinking feeling in my stomach behind a disinterested look. I glanced around the room as it slowly filled with weary teammates. I left Steve and Bucky to talk, opting instead to find a seat at the table next to Natasha.

“Hey,” her voice was soft as she addressed me. “How are you feeling? Did you sleep at all last night?”

“I’m alright.” I answered, watching more people filter through the doorway.

She noticed my stare. “Who are you waiting for?”

I looked at her innocently, but she only scoffed at me.

“You’ve been scanning the room since you came in. Who do you want to see?” She studied my face for a moment before adding, “or who do you not want to see?”

My eyes couldn’t help but meet hers, and the worry seeped out of them helplessly. “At this point, I feel like I’m more afraid of my team than my enemy.’

“You know no one here would hurt you.”

“I’m not afraid of them hurting me,” I brought my eyes to the table, “I’m afraid of disappointing them. Again.”

Nat nodded, the understanding clear in her face. “Well, I can tell you from personal experience that there are few things that can’t be forgiven.” She put her hand on mine, “And you’ve have nothing to be ashamed of.”

I tried to hear her words as the room continued to fill, but I couldn’t help but shake my head. “I know it wasn’t my fault, but I can’t help but feel guilty anyway.”

“I know. And I could tell you that it’ll pass but it never does. Not completely, anyway.”

“You’re about as helpful as Bucky.”

“Neither of us are the type to lie to you.” She looked at me sternly. “And you shouldn’t lie to yourself. It wasn’t your fault. Wanda won’t blame you.”

I didn’t have time to reply before T’Challa called the room to attention.

“I know not everyone is here, but I understand that many will be taking their time to grieve.”

I looked around the room, counting the lack of Wanda and Vision. Quill and his team we also missing as per usual, as were Parker and Shuri, who spent most of their time in the lab.

“We did suffer a great loss yesterday. But it means we have that much more reason to fight today. especially because today,” the king looked at me, “Thanos is coming to take the stones. I know we cannot withstand many more of his attacks, but we have held him off successfully for this long, we must try to do it a little longer.” He gestured towards the guards at the door who ducked out of the room.“We also have a new advantage we don’t believe Thanos knows about.” The guards returned with Carol Danvers standing proudly behind them.

I let out an audible sigh of relief that earned a number of curious looks, including one from Danvers herself.

“Fury said you needed help.” She opened her arms sarcastically, “I’m help.”

“Captain Marvel is, apparently, the contact we’ve been waiting for.” Stark said from the other side if the table. “Which is great. And if anyone else has any high powered friends they’ve been waiting to call on, now is definitely the time. The King and I briefed her on the situation and the stakes, at least as they stand at the moment.” He looked to me, “You're sure Thanos is coming to get the stones today.”

I nodded.

Stark, T’Challa, and Steve passed a look around and all seemed to come to the same conclusion.

“Then this is our stand.” Steve said, addressing the team as only a Captain could. “We have a plan. Anyone with a stone is going to report to the lab in an hour. Everyone else, do what you have to do to prepare yourself. We’re going to war.”

I don’t know what I expected after a declaration like that, but it wasn’t what I got. I waiting for something to happen. This is always the part of the movie where the scene cuts out. But still I expected some sort of reaction. But instead, people stood, walked out of the room in groups of two or three. Carol peeled off with T’Challa and Okoye, talking softly about the city defenses beyond the main battlefield. Nat walked out with Rhodey and Tony, smiling gently at me as she left. There wasn’t panic. There weren't tears. Everyone just left. To do their job. It suddenly occurred to me that living like you expect to die gives you a great deal of freedom when death is eminent. I almost laughed at the realization.

I felt myself steadied by the resolve of the team. I stood with them, found Bucky and Sam, and followed them out of the room. But I stopped when we left the main meeting hall, waving the two men on toward the elevator bank and stepping to the side of the hallway. I watched the door of the meeting hall as the team filtered out the same way they’d filtered in. Until I saw who I needed. And I made my play.

“Steve.”

The super soldier’s shoulders fell at the sound of my voice, but he still turned, slowly, to face me. “This isn’t the best time.”

“I don’t know if we’ll get a better one.”

“Look,” he started walking towards me, but his eyes were set on the ground.

I didn’t let him finish his thought. I swooped forward, grabbed him by the wrist, and pulled him down the hallway and around the corner, until we were far enough from both the meeting room and the elevator bank that the voices of our teammates could no longer carry towards us.

“Wait— stop, hey,” he protested. “Stop!” He pulled his arm from my grip and glared at me.

“Oh good, so you _can_ still look at me.”

He jaw clenched, “What do you want.”

His question caught me off guard. I was expecting a fight, and honestly I hadn’t expected to get this far, but I didn’t know what I had expected to get from this. People always know they need talk, but they never seem to know what they want to get out of it. Closure? Acceptance? Understanding? I watched the Captain’s eyes soften from the harsh glare as I thought. But eventually I knew what I wanted.

“Are you ok?”

It was his turn to be surprised, and the question even earned a small smile from him. “I’m twice your size and can lift a truck, and you’re still worried about me?” He shook his head, “I’m fine. Promise.” He started to turn away from me but I stopped him with a gentle hand. He sighed, but he stayed with me. I could tell his next protests were on his lips, but I cut him off.

“Yesterday, I— I watched Pietro die.”

Again he was startled, and I watched the pity grow in his eyes but I continued.

“I couldn’t do anything to help him. I tried, but…” I remembered Bucky’s words from this morning. “He made his choices. He wanted to save us. He died—,” the word stuck ruthlessly in my throat, but I powered through it. “He died saving us. And you know how much I loved him, how much I cared about him, even after everything that happened between us, and I….” I put my hand on Steve’s cheek, stepping closer to him. “I can’t lose another friend to this fight.”

Steve’s eyes flicked with worry, “I thought you didn’t know what was going to happen anymore.”

“I don’t. And that scares me more than anything because I don’t know how I can help anymore. I don’t know if I can save any of you.” I let my hand fall to Steve’s chest, resting it over his heart. Feeling the pulse beneath my fingers. “But I know that you ran to me the second I fell out of the sky. I know that you took that hit for me, a hit that landed you in the med bay, without a second thought.” He tried to look away from me, but I pulled his face back as I looked into his eyes, putting every sleepless night and hopeless dream into my stare. I had to make him understand. “Steve, I don’t know if I can save you. But I love you too much to let you die for me.”

I couldn’t read the thoughts that twisted his face. I saw the sadness, the pain, the frustration, but there were so many more, so many I couldn’t see and so many more I couldn’t name.

He broke our gaze to look up, whether trying to clear some of those whirling thoughts or appeal to a higher power, I couldn’t tell, but the next second his arms wrapped tightly around me, pulling me into his chest. I clutched at him, feeling that same heartbeat fast against my cheek as I fought the urge to cry yet again.

After a moment he pulled away, but he wouldn’t look at me. Instead he pressed his lips softly to my forehead, lingering long enough for me to savor the feeling. Then he turned and walked away. Leaving me listening to his footsteps echoing through the hall.


	36. Ending the Infinite

_Fine._ I stared at the empty space in front of me, narrowing my eyes and trying to control the anger bubbling in my head. _Fine, if he wants to act all detached and melodramatic, then that’s up to him._ I waited for the sound of his steps to stop at the elevator lobby, waited for the ding, waited for the sound of the metal doors sliding shut, and then I stormed back through the hall. I said what I needed him to hear. And I had a job to do.

Turning the corner to the elevator bank, I stalked forward, my mind newly focused on the singular purpose of further robbing Thanos of the victory he had killed Pietro to achieve.

_I wouldn’t let him scare me_.

The elevator carried me down until I reached the housing wing. I heard the rustling behind the doors of my teammates as I passed. People suiting up, getting ready, eating granola bars, or calling their families. I wondered for a moment if I should do the same. But the phone I’d taken with me to this universe had no way of reaching my mother back home. No, no I’d just have to bank on the fact that I would be making it out of this alive.

I reached my door, but my hand stilled on the knob before I could turn it. There was something eating at me.

I stepped away from the door, turning to continue down the hallway until I reached a door that wasn’t my own. My knock sounded hollow on the wooden door and I waited, but the sound of footsteps never came. Instead the door opened slowly, and Vision stood gingerly in the doorway.

“Hello,” the android started a small smile. “I heard you were back, I’m glad to see you well.”

I returned the smile and cast my eyes towards his forehead. “I see Shuri got the stone out. How are you feeling?”

He tilted his head and shrugged. “It feels strange, surely. But I believe I will grow used to it in time. And I understand that it could have been much worse.” He met my eyes knowingly. “I’m afraid you’ll have to add me to the list of lives you’ve saved.”

I shook my head, “I don’t know how much of a list it is anymore.”

“Every extra day is a gift, one to be grateful for. And even if that gift must someday expire— it does not sour the giving.”

“You know I think that’s the best advice I’ve gotten today.”

He grimaced, “I’ve found that those who were forced to kill do not always give the best condolences. Noble as their intentions may be.”

I nodded. “Vision, is Wanda here?”

His face softened. “She’s in the bathroom. She hasn’t spoken much since the loss of her brother.”

I tried to smile to conceal my disappointment. “I understand.”

“But she did make clear,” Vision said before I could turn away, “that she blames only Thanos for Pietro’s death. No one else.”

I met his eyes and felt the calm of his stare heal the pit in my stomach.

He continued, “She also intends, if I am not mistaken, to meet him on the field today. With the rest of us.”

I nodded again, “Good. We’ll need her. Both of you actually. Vision, thank you.” I turned away from him, but stopped before he could close the door. “And will you tell her, how sorry I am. For her— _our_ loss.”

Vision smiled. “Of course.”

With my breath back in my body for the first time that morning, I walked back to my door, stepping inside my room and closing it softly behind me. I leaned on the hard wood and took in a deep breath. _One, two, three, four, five, six, seven._ I sighed the air out with a gentle whoosh. I invited my lips to smile as a quiet tear ran down my face, letting the air fill me again and again until I was steady enough to stand without the door’s help. I wiped the water from my eyes and pursed my lips, nodding curtly and stepping away from the door.

“Alright.” I spoke to myself. “Let’s go.”

I walked over to the dresser on the side of the room, flinging open the doors to reveal the suit Steve had showed me the day before. Of course, after yesterday’s events, I had left it crumpled in a pile in the corner of the dresser’s floor, but still it glowed with energy. I picked it up, watching it shine as the light hit it. This was mine. It belonged to me. And I belonged in it. I slipped it on effortlessly, enjoying the softness of the fabric against my skin and pulling the front zipper up higher and higher, until my fingers brushed against the heavy weight around my neck.

_The stone._

I had almost forgotten I was wearing it. The soul stone. Curious, I flicked open the latch on the vibranium casing. There it was, pale yellow and humming, almost singing. I threw a nervous glance towards the door. I knew I shouldn’t be toying with the stone, but still I couldn’t help but think…

I remembered seeing the stone in Clint’s hand in my universe. If he could touch it, maybe I could.

Breathless, I hovered a finger over the surface of the stone, feeling the welcome warmth of the glow. Softly, I rested my finger on it, gasping at the sudden energy that ran through me. My heart raced and a smile a mile wide stretched on my face. I laughed. I could do it. I could bring him back. I could save him again. I could—.

“Ah!”

The stone’s power surged through me painfully, throwing me back until I hit the floor. It clattered from the casing to to floor beside me. I heard steps outside the door.

“Sparks, you alright in there?”

I recognized the voice, “Yeah! Yeah, Clint, I’m fine. Just— just tripped is all.”

“Alright,” he answered sounding either convinced or to preoccupied to question my answer. “Just try not to die before we get on the field.”

“Yeah,” I stammered, reopening the casing with shaking hands. “Yeah, I’ll try.”

The steps moved away from my door and I crawled towards the stone where it sat on the floor. I scooped it up with the casing, careful not to touch it again, although I got the feeling that it wouldn’t hurt me. It didn’t shock me until I started thinking about using it. Before that it felt almost alive. And it was warning me.

I closed the latch on the casing, letting the stone hang again from the cord around my neck, but as I let it go I noticed a thin white stripe running up my finger. Panic gripped me as I look at my hand. There was a scar running from the tip of my index finger down to my wrist, twisting and branching on my skin like the arms of a tree. I traced the line gingerly with my other hand, watching as it flicked with yellow light under my fingers.

I flinched back from the scar, suddenly afraid of the stone I’d been carrying for the past day. I couldn’t use it. I wasn’t strong enough. Even the thought of using it knocked me straight off my feet and left me with a scar six inches long. I sighed and scooted back to lean against the edge of the bed. I closed my eyes and put my face in my hands. I couldn’t use it. I knew it before, but now I was sure. Pietro was gone. There was no getting him back.

Putting my feet underneath me again, I walked to the closet, grabbing the whip that hung there, and pressing the button on its side that commanded it to wrap loosely over my hips. I combed my hands through my hair before fingers started twisting it into a tight braid.

_No. No, I couldn’t save him,_ I thought as I ran into the bathroom and grabbed a stay hair tie from the counter, twisting it around the end of my hair. _But I could still avenge him._

I looked up at myself in the mirror. The suit, my hair pulled back off my face— I suddenly remembered the first night I’d spent in this universe: cuffing the legs of a too long S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform in the bathroom of the Tower penthouse. Terrified of powers I didn’t know how to control. Unsure if I’d ever be able to find my way home. Completely unaware of the home I’d make for myself along the way.

My face shone in the reflection in front of me. Older than it had been that first night. Not so much in shape or tone, but there was something in the eyes. Something less reckless, less desperate, less afraid of what I was or would be. I smiled at myself. Beautiful. Powerful. Unafraid of the fear I still held in my heart. The fear for myself that told me to run away, and the fear for my friends that told me to stand my ground. I knew I needed both today. And I was glad to have them.

I was ready.

I turned from the mirror and headed for the door to the hall, but as I turned the knob, I heard voices. I stopped and pressed an ear to the door, but I could only make out murmurs. I slowly pushed the door open, just a crack, not enough to look out, but enough for the sound to carry more clearly to my ears.

“…you can’t be serious. Why won’t you let yourself be happy?”

“Buck, this isn’t any of your business.”

“Not my business? Two of my best friends are dancing around each other like a couple of idiots. Neither of you are focused on the job!”

“You know I would’ve taken that hit for anyone on the team.”

“Yeah, but you would’ve taken it smarter.”

“Jesus, you too, Sam?”

“Hey, man I have eyes. I mean, I’ve seen you do stupid things on the field, but Steve,the way you threw yourself at that thing? That was panic, not strategy.”

“What was I supposed to do, just let it get her? You know I can’t lose her again, I—.”

I could hear the strain in Steve’s voice, the frustration, but the next moment I couldn’t hear his voice at all. I cursed under my breath and pushed the door open another millimeter, just enough for the light to show through.

“… too young. I can’t, Buck. I’m over a hundred—.”

“She _was_ too young. Now? We did the math, it all checks out.”

“Did the math? _Jesus!_ How long have you two been thinking about this?”

“Steve, just— just think about it.”

“I don’t have time for this.”

I leaned harder on the door and it squeaked open just in time for me to watch Steve storm out of the hall and towards the common room beyond. Both Bucky and Sam looked at me from the end of the hallway and I quickly straightened myself, looking nonchalantly around the empty space, but when I found their eyes again, neither of them seemed to believe my act.

“How much did you hear?” Sam asked.

“Nothing I didn't already know.” I forced a fake smile as I walked towards them. “Don’t worry. He’s right. It never would’ve worked anyway.”

Bucky grabbed my arm as I passed them and I bristled at him. “He’s being stupid and you know it.”

“Then it’s business as usual.” I pulled my arm from his grip. “I’ll see you on the field.” I turned and made my way through the common room, towards the elevators and towards the lab. It was time to end this.

——————————————————————————————————————

“So you have a plan? You can destroy the stones?”

“Yes, brother,” Shuri responded, busily typing on a keypad nearby. “At least I hope so.”

“You’re not exactly inspiring confidence, your highness.” Steve’s arms were crossed tightly across his chest as he watched the princess work. “What about you Queens? Anything to add?”

“Oh we have no idea if this will work, Mr. America, sir.” Peter Parker came whipping around the corner, his hands full of cords and wires. “Shuri, where did you want these again?”

“On the cart with the rest of it.”

Parker nodded and loaded his handfuls onto a full cart by the lab door.

“We going somewhere?” Nat asked, eyeing the cart.

“The plan,” Shuri hauled, “requires a massive amount of energy. And I don’t want you blowing a hole in my lab. We’re going up to the roof.”

“Lovely,” Strange replied. “So we’ll have a view as we blow ourselves up. Tell me Captain, why have we put the fate of our universe in the hands of two teenagers?”

“Because, Doctor,” T’Challa growled, “my sister is the leading authority on Wakandan engineering. Which is decades ahead of anything else you’ve seen around the world.”

“He’s right.” Bruce came out from the back of the lab.

“Oh, good. The babysitter.”

I shot Strange an irritated look.

“The technology here is leaps and bounds ahead of anything else I’ve worked with, and Shuri’s designs have never failed us before. Well, except for that one time—.”

“I keep telling you that was _not_ my fault!”

“What,” Steve interrupted, pinching the bridge of his nose in pure agitation, “is the plan?”

“We built a rig to concentrate Wanda’s powers,” Shuri explained. “We thought if we amplify her powers and blast the stones, we might be able to destroy them.”

“ _That’s not a plan!_ ” Strange erupted. “You want to shoot the most sophisticated elements in the universe with, what, a glorified laser gun?” He looked at me, “Was this part of the movie in your universe? Was is directed by Michael Bay?”

“You handed us six entirely different, indescribably powerful, absolutely foreign elements and told us to find a way to destroy them in less than twenty-four hours!” Bruce shouted back.

“Hey!” Steve called everyone to attention. “We don’t have time to argue about this. This is the only plan we’ve got.” He looked to Shuri. “What do you need?”

“Take this stuff up to the roof, Peter will show you the way.” She continued typing at her keyboard, “I’ll meet you up there with Wanda and Vision. He still has the mind stone.”

“Captain.”

The whole room turned toward T’Challa who was looking intently at the field below. Steve rushed to his side, with Natasha, Strange, and I close behind him, and we could see, across the field, a bright energy surge at the base of the forces field.

“Stark,” Steve spoke into his com, “there’s an interference at the shield, do you have eyes?”

“On it,” came the muffled reply from Steve’s earpiece.

Ironman soared through the sky in front of the window, swooping down towards the far end of the field. I stepped closer to the glass, watching Tony maneuver around the bright light to get a better view. Suddenly the force field started to flicker around the light, faltering in a small circle around the intrusion. And from that circle, Thanos stepped onto the field.

Tony’s voice came on the coms, “Is everybody seeing this, or is it just me?”

“He’s here,” Steve said. “We’re out of time.”

“You focus on the stones, Rogers.” Tony landed in the center of the field. “We’ll buy you as much time as we can.”

Steve nodded and walked away from the window. “T’Challa, Strange, get those supplies up to the roof. Nat send a message to Wanda and Vision. They need to be up there waiting for us by the time we’re in the elevator.”

I could hear him rattling instructions off to everyone, but my eyes were fixed on Tony as he walked towards the giant. Alone.

“Hey.”

I turned at the curt voice, finding T’Challa standing behind me.

“It’s time to go.”

I nodded and walked with him to the elevator, stepping in between the bulging cart and Peter Parker. I leaned to whisper at him. “Is this actually going to work?”

He looked at me, surprised at the question, and saw the seriousness in my eyes. He gulped. “We have no idea.”

The elevator doors opened and we rushed out. Peter quickly began instructing Strange on how to assemble the machine with his powers. I raced to the edge of the rooftop, seeing Tony standing eye to eye with Thanos.

I pressed a finger to my com, “Any word on what the hell is going on down there?”

“Negative,” Rhodey buzzed back. “His coms are off we’re all just waiting for a signal to—.”

In the center of the field, Thanos threw a punch at Tony so powerful, it knocked the scientist back thirty yards. The titan panted his feet and let out a roar so monstrous I could almost feel it in my bones. And behind him, dozens of lights went out across the force field, prying it open just as the first had and flooding the field with a wave of aliens twice the size of the first attack.

“Well,” I started, “I think that’s your signal.”

Rhodey, Hope, and Falcon rocketed onto the field, leading a charge of Wakandan troops. I saw Clint and Scott running with the foot soldiers, alongside Bucky, and Okoye. Thor and Danvers came next, flying high above the field and staring down the enemy forces that were gathering at the field’s edge.

“We’ll hold them off as long as we can,” Bucky barked. “Just get rid of those _fucking_ stones.”

“Copy.” Steve’s voice came both over my com and behind me and I turned to see him exiting the elevator with Shuri, Vision, and Wanda in tow.

I walked away from the roof’s edge, towards the small group that was crowding the center of the roof top. The machine was growing with every passing second, and from the looks of the field below, we didn’t have a second to waste.

“Ok!” Shuri yelled. “This is how this is going to work.”

Strange stepped away from the now completed machine as Parker ran to plug the wires into the generator. It was big, a cage of metal coils meeting in a platform at the center.

“Everyone put your stones on the center plate.”

I looked nervously around the group, catching the eye of Nat, who shrugged and placed her vibranium encased stone on the metal platform. I followed her lead, as did Steve, Vision, T’Challa, and, eventually, Strange, after a few pointed glares.

I stepped back from the machine and looked to my left to find Wanda, her eyes red rimmed and downcast. I looked back towards the machine, studying the energy receptor that would be Wanda’s target. I reached over and grabbed her hand. I could feel her surprise at first, but she softened her fingers around mine and I let out a grateful breath. I squeezed her hand reassuringly, and released it, stepping away from the machine to give her space.

“Ok,” Bruce spoke, reading the computer panel in his hands. “The readings are holding steady. We should be ready.” He looked at Wanda. “Whenever you’re ready.”

The group watched as Wanda lifted her gaze from the ground, her eyes landing squarely at the stones the machine. She twisted her feet on the concrete, digging her toes into the ground. Her hands blazed with red light as she brought them in front of her, twisting her powers until they grew into a ball of energy in her palms. I could see the pain on her face, the rage. Her mouth twitched as she concentrated, pulling in the air around her.

Everyone took another step away from the machine as the winds picked up, swirling around Wanda as she shaped the energy in her hands. I had never seen anything like it, none of us had, and our awe showed clear on our faces as we watched the Scarlet Witch work. Her eyes glowed red and tears streamed down her cheeks. I could feel the heat from her energy pulsating around the group, beating almost like a heart, and I couldn’t help but feel the hope swell in my chest at the thought that was running through each and every one of us:

_This is going to work._

With a scream, Wanda threw her energy at the machine, the red shocks racing through the coils as they whirred to life before our eyes. The red power channeled through the arms of the cage until it focused, in a stream too blinding to look at aimed directly at the infinity stones.

I turned away and shielded my eyes with my arm, the brightness of the machine overwhelming as the energy built and built until suddenly there was a deafening silence.

I hazarded a look toward Wanda who had collapsed to the ground from the exertion, but before I could make a move towards her, the machine exploded, sending each of us to the edges of the roof.

And when the dust cleared, and we ran back to the remnants of the machine, we stood over the smoking bits and melting coils to see that in the center of all the destruction, arranged in a perfect circle, were the six infinity stones.

Absolutely intact.


	37. Snap

“What did I tell you?” Strange hissed. “This is exactly what we needed to avoid. Now, we’re waiting here like sitting ducks with no way to destroy these things. It’s only a matter of time until Thanos gets his hands on them.”

“How is this even possible?” Steve asked. “I thought that Wanda could destroy at least the mind stone.”

I shook my head, “That worked when the mind stone was isolated. Together the stones can protect each other.”

“Why don’t we just isolate the mind stone and destroy that one?” Nat asked.

“Because we need all the stones to destroy them.”

“Hang on, there’s gotta be another solution,” Bruce wiped the dust off his glasses as he walked towards the machine on the roof.

“This was the solution!” Strange yelled. He turned towards Shuri, “ _You_ said this would work.”

Shuri’s eyes narrowed at the doctor. “You gave me an impossible task, do not berate me for failing to produce a miracle.”

“Enough!” T’Challa stepped between his sister and Strange, who huffed and turned away from the King. “We don't have time for this.” He looked at me, “There must be another way.”

I saw the pleading in his eyes. “I’m sorry.” I looked towards Wanda, who was hugging her knees to her chest like a small child with Vision gently stroking her back. “I don’t see how we can do this.”

“There’s gotta be something,” Nat came towards me, “it was your idea to destroy the stones, right? How did you know that was possible.”

I sighed, “I told you, Thanos destroyed the stones with a second snap, but it _crippled_ him. An titan. There’s no way any of us could be powerful enough to pull something like that off without dying.”

“And what if we were willing to die?”

My eyes flew to Steve as he stared me down. My voice was steady as I replied: “We don’t trade lives, Captain.”

“Oh we’re well past that.” Strange approached me. “If you’re the one that doesn’t want me to use the time stone to find the answers, you better start coming up with some _fucking_ solutions.”

“Even if someone were willing to die,” I screamed back, “none of us have the power to pull it off! It’s that simple! Even Thor, even the Hulk can’t compare to Thanos. None of us can do this—.”

A thought tugged at the back of my head.

“… _alone._ ”

I looked to Bruce and he immediately read my face.

“You have a plan.”

My heart was in my throat as my mind ran through the logistics. “It’s risky. Everything will have to be in the exact right place at the right time. Anything goes wrong and….”

“Everything we do is risky,” Nat responded. “It hasn’t stopped us before.”

Steve stepped towards me, putting his chest inches from mine, desperation in his eyes. “Will it work?”

I sank into his gaze. “Yes.”

He raised his brows and nodded, focus stern on his face. “What do you need?”

———————————————————————————————————————

My eyes were boring holes into the door in front of me as I tried to gather the courage to knock. I wiped my sweaty palms on my thighs and sucked in a deep breath, holding the air tightly in my chest as I raised my hand and rapped three time on the gray door.

“Hold on!” a raspy voice answered. There was a symphony of grunts and clanging on the other side of the door. “We’ll be right with you, just— _ah!_ Groot, jesus, watch it will ya. I’m coming, don’t worry, I’m— _shit_ — I’m practically at the door now, just— _HEY!_ ”

The door swung open and I stood face to face with Nebula.

“Oh, you blue _bitch_ , I said _I_ was getting the door,” Rocket hollered from his position on the other side of the room, climbing down from a massive metal _thing_ in the middle of the room.

“What _is_ that?” I asked, passing Nebula as I approached the machine.

“Oh this? It’s a massive gun I’ve been assembling from parts I stole around the building.” Rocket leaned nonchalantly against the weapon. “You humans really don’t know how to use what you have.”

“You’re telling me the Wakandans give your team an entire suite of rooms and you start tearing them apart?”

“No, no see you weren’t listening. I was very clear. I stole them from all over the building. I didn’t want to mess up our rooms, that would be disrespectful.”

I bit back the reply on my lips and centered myself on the task at hand. “Where’s the rest of the team?”

“Well, Groot’s right behind the machine—.”

“I am Groot.”

“No, she did not see you already, you’re behind the machine. Quill and Mantis are in their rooms. Nebula is standing by the door like a crazy she-witch. And Drax has been standing behind you since you came in.”

I stiffened and turned slowly to see Drax standing behind me, looking into the nothingness over my shoulder. I puffed out a weak laugh and turned back to Rocket. “Can you get everyone in here? I need to talk to you.”

“And what if we don’t want to talk to you?” Quill stood at the mouth of the hall, leaning into the room and looking at me with distrust. “After what you pulled last time we were in the field, I don’t think we have anything to say to you.”

My heart faltered but I raised a firm face. “I’m sorry for what happened in the field, but you couldn’t’ve saved her. I couldn’t’ve saved her.” I walked towards him, “I can’t bring her back. But I can bring you Thanos.”

Peter looked past me. “Don’t need your help. We’ve got Rocket’s gun. Don’t need any of your guys anymore.”

“You know that’s not gonna work.”  
Peter’s eyes met mine, red and tired. “You don’t know that.”

“But you do.” I stepped closer to him. “I can stop him, Peter. For everything he’s done. For everything he wants to do. I know you don’t know me, but I know you. You know we have to stop him, and you know you can’t do it with one big gun. He’s smarter than that. We have to go at him with everything we have.”

He sighed and leaned into the wall, his shoulders sinking. “So what’s your plan?”

I stopped, stunned by the sudden acceptance of my suggestion. “Come meet them on the field. With us. Bring Mantis. Bring Groot. Bring everyone. And we will stop him.”

“Fine.”

My heart thundered in my chest as I nodded and turned to walk out of the room.

“But one condition.”

I stopped dead in my tracks. Slowly I turned back to face Quill.

“She gets to kill him.” He pointed at Nebula. She looked as shocked as I was. “For everything he did to her. And Gamora. It seems only right.”

“Done,” I agreed. “There are spare coms in the closet. You’ll need them. Suit up.”

I shut the door behind me as I left, my hand lingering for just a moment on the cold knob. I pressed my back against the door, lolling my head from shoulder to shoulder. _It’s ok,_ I told myself, _they’re going to help. We’re all going to be ok._ I stood up and turned from the door, walking down the hall back towards the elevators when I passed a window and froze mid-step. I rushed to the glass. On the field, Thanos’s men were approaching fast, pushing our lines of defense further back with every moment.

_Shit._

I had less time than I thought. I fumbled for the com that I had hooked into my belt. I set it around my ear with shaking hands, switching it on and letting the voices fill my head. Everyone seemed to be speaking on the main line, requesting backup, or giving enemy positions. It was madness; they were swamped.

I clicked onto the line. “Where do you need me?”

“Jesus, Sparks,” Tony coughed, “I didn’t even see you on the field.”

“Well, I’m about to be,” I mumbled, backing into the hallway. “Gimme a direction, Tony. Who needs a hand?”

“Hit the bushes on the west side, Cap looks like he’s drowning.”

“Roger that.” I took a breath and felt my heels against the hall molding. I lifted myself in the air and tucked my feet under me until the soles of my boots were pressed against the wall. I took another beat, focusing on the glass in front of me and the western field beyond.

_Here goes nothing._

I focused my energy and blasted myself against the wall, soaring through the glass with a deafening clash, and rocketing toward the field. In seconds I was suspended over Steve’s position, watching as he faced off a whole circle of Thanos’s men. I stilled myself in the air and condensed my energy as I found my aim on the dirt below. I sent myself plummeting to the earth, landing hard enough to send the enemies flying off their feet and knocking them out cold on the field. I stood, triumphant, looking over the limp aliens around me.

“Ugh.”

The groan surprised me and I jumped around, ready to attack again, but only finding Steve struggling to lift himself from the ground beside me.

“Oh, shit, Steve,” I reached down to grab his arm and help him up. “I’m so sorry, I—.”

“Oh, you are _so_ going back to training drills,” he grumbled. “I mean it. Early mornings too. I swear you are going to run so many laps, your head will sp—.”

His words were stifled in his throat as he finished pulling himself upright, his right hand clutching my arm while his left rested on my shoulder. My hips pressed firmly into his leg and the back of his forearm was strong against my stomach as our grip stuck deliciously tightly between our two bodies. I looked up at him, our lips close enough that I could feel his breath against my cheek.

I closed my eyes and pulled away. _We don’t have time for this now._ The hurt never registered on his face even though I could read it in the rest of his body, but he knew what I knew: this was a job, and we had to be focused on the mission. No matter how hard that was.

He cleared his throat. “You better be right about this plan of yours.”

“Yes. I mean, I know. You know, I am. I think.” I stuttered, the words tripping on themselves on their way out of my mouth. I closed my eyes for a moment and reminded myself to slow my racing heart. “Wanda has the mind stone?”

Steve nodded. “Yeah, and the rest of us all have our stones too. Everyone knows what to do, we’re just waiting for you to tell us when to do it.”

“Good. It’s about time you listened to somebody.”

He held a measured silence. “Did Buck tell you or were you listening at keyholes?”

“Does it matter?”

He shrugged.

“Right.” I pressed a finger to my com, “Stark, who needs he—?”

A massive blast went off in the middle of the field. I looked at Steve in a moment of silent communication. Without a word, the both of us went racing for the center of the field. There was a plume of smoke from the blast site, right in the thick of where our men and Thanos’s men had been fighting just seconds prior. But we couldn’t see anything through from our distance. Steve pulled in front of me and I huffed indignantly. With a jump, I flew into the air flying past the Captain and landing at the edge of the scorched earth. Planting my feet in the grass I waited for an enemy to break clear of the smoke. Steve stopped next to me, waiting, ready to fight.

I saw something moving in the smoke and ground my feet into the dirt. It moved again. Then something else, and another. I looked at Steve, meeting eyes as confused as mine. I turned back to the smoke, searching for a clue as to who the fuck with in it when I heard a cough, and my confusion dissipated.

“Fucking hell, Rocket!”

The raccoon stumbled out of the smoke, hacking up a genetically mutated lung. “Ok, you may have been right about the laser being more of a plan b kinda option.”

Quill stumbled out behind him, followed by Groot, Drax, Mantis, and Nebula, who was screaming a number of colorful insults about stupid raccoons and faulty engineering.

“You’re all here,” I checked, counting them over.

Peter nodded, “Yes, ma’am. The whole team,” he bent over coughing, “on the field just for you. Ready to fight.”

I raised my brows at that, almost smiling at the sight of an earnest Peter ready to fight when he was still exhaling laser debris.

“The whole team’s on the field then. Everyone we have, we have here now.” Steve looked at me, “If this plan is going to work, now’s the time.”

I nodded and lifted a finger to my coms when a low voice shook me to my core.

“ _Daughter_.”

Thanos emerged, flanked by a chorus of guards. His eyes were fixed on Nebula. I felt Steve stiffen behind me, but neither of us moved as Thanos stalked towards our group.

“I wondered where you’d gone,” he continued. “I see you’ve found your sister’s old toys. Typical. I really thought you were more loyal, even if you were more stupid.”

Nubula growled and started to run towards him, but Steve caught her arm. She didn’t fight the Captain’s grip as she stopped, her angry settling deep inside her as she leveled her breaths. Steve’s hand fell from her arm as she stilled, the suggestion of its presence having seated in her mind.

Steve leaned down to whisper in my ear. “It has to be now.”

I lifted a slow hand to my coms, unable to hide the action from Thanos or his men, but still guarded by the tension held between the Titan and Nebula.

“Gamora found a better family than you had ever given us. I have never been your daughter,” she spat.

“Then I suppose there’s no more reason to let you live.”

My heart jumped. “Danvers, now!”

I grabbed Nebula and pulled her back as Danvers released a powerful blast at our feet. The both of us fell backwards, but were lifted away from the blast by Steve. With the dust caking my lips I kept coughing into my coms.

“Strange! Get Wanda to me now!” Immediately a portal deposited Wanda directly in front of me. She looked at me and nodded stepping towards the charred line Danvers had left behind and readying herself. The dust was already starting to settle and I could see where Danvers had separated Thanos from his guards. He was alone.

I turned to Mantis. “Do you remember what we did on Titan?”

Realization dawned on her as she nodded and looked up to Strange hovering above us. On her cue, the wizard opened another portal on the ground. Without hesitation, she jumped into it and landed, not eight feet away, right on Thanos’s head. She pressed her hands to his temples before he had a moment to realize what was happening.

This was it. Everything was happening so fast, it almost didn’t register in my mind. But this was our shot. Our only shot.

I pressed my finger to my coms again. “Ma—.” I coughed. “Mak—.” I gasped for air in the cloud of dust.

Steve put a hand on my shoulder and reached up to his com. “Make the chain.”

I looked up at him, looked deeply into his eyes for what I knew may be the last time. I tried to memorize the blue in the nanoseconds before I looked away. I tried to remember the way that blue was looking at me right now. With admiration. With love.

I took his hand from my shoulder and brought it to his heart, to the pocket where I knew he kept the stone.

“Let’s finish the job.”

He took his eyes from mine and reached to his pocket for the stone, flipping open the container to see the space stone glowing inside.

I wrapped my left hand around his wrist, and brought my right to Wanda’s shoulder. Next to me, I saw Nebula take Wanda’s other side, and reach her right hand over to Drax. I looked past Steve and saw Quill, Rocket, Groot, Wilson, Scott. Past Nebula there was Tony, Clint, Nat, Parker, Bruce, the line kept going and going, stretching across the field. T’Challa, Bucky, Shuri, Vision, Hope, Thor, Rhodey, Wilson. The whole team— the whole Avengers linked together, hand in hand.

Tony came on the coms, “You linked up, Carol?”

“Locked and loaded, Stark.”

“Alright, time to show him what we’re made off. In three, two…”

I couldn’t listen to the next word. I couldn’t look back into those blue eyes. I squeezed Steve’s wrist with my hand as I felt him pour the space stone into his naked palm. I gripped him tight as the power rippled through him and then though me. It hit my like a freight train at first, then softened to a swarm of bees. Then another rush, another train. And another. And another. Each stone stabbing through my body and then equalizing as the power distributed along the chain.

I opened eyes I didn’t know I’d shut as I felt Wanda lean towards the Titan in front of her. I watched her reach out and press her left hand to Thanos’s chest, the mind stone clutched tightly in her right. The red glow of her powers spread over his shoulders, his back, his legs, until it consumed his whole body. Her left hand crawled up to grip his thick neck as her free arm lifted the stone high into the air and squeezed it between her last two fingers. And slowly, painfully, with all the power of the universe coursing through her, she snapped.


	38. Downfall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I didn't update this is forever--I'll try and be more on it :(

I’d never felt such a breathlessness before. A city wide gasp that left the atmosphere wanting for a taste of the air that was swept out off it. I could feel the dust on my cheeks, sticking to the sweat on my brow. With my eyes still squeezed shut, I opened a shaking hand, prying my palm from Wanda’s shoulder and bringing my wrist to scrub away the dirt that caked my eyes.

That first sliver of light was blinding as I tried to look at the scene in front of me. The dust was settling now, swirling in little pools that sunk closer and closer to the earth with each passing moment. I sucked in a harsh breath, swallowing the grey air in ugly clumps, and feeling the dryness of my tongue against the roof of my mouth.

I felt Steve’s wrist twitch within my grasp and my eyes flew to the point where our skin met, watching as my fingers trembled in their grip. I saw the stone’s casing still clutched tightly in his right hand, but his left was empty, save a faint glow of blue dust that faded as the wind caught it.

My lips quivered as I watched the remnants of the space stone scatter in the air and tears pricked at my eyes. I stifled a sob of relief as I finally brought my eyes to look at Steve’s face only to find him mesmerized by the emptiness in his hand as he stroked his fingers up his vacant palm.

A gargled groan woke me from my shock and my gaze shifted to my front just in time to watch Thanos shrug Mantis limply off his shoulder and onto the field.I let go of Steve and took a step towards her, but Wanda’s warning hand stopped me.

“Wha— what did you do?” Thanos asked, dizzily trying to find his balance as Mantis scampered back behind our line. The titan blinked himself into focus as he looked up and down the chain of Avengers. “WHAT DID YOU DO???” His roar echoed through the field as he stumbled over his own feet.

A cold fear gripped me as I watched him, drunkly screaming around the field with a blind rage that I’d never seen before.

He fixed his eyes on Wanda. “Witch! Where are they? Where are the stones?” He lunged forward to grab her, but stumbled and fell forward with a force as Wanda stepped away from him. He groaned and planted his hands on the dirt to lift himself up again, when suddenly his eyes stuck on a glimmer in the dirt beside him. A faint yellow glow that flickered and died. Realization spread through his body like wildfire. “No. No, no, no, no. _NO!_ ” He pawed at the dirt, gathering handfuls of soil and fading specks of light. “ _What have you done?!_ ”

Beside me, Wanda was taking shocked steps backwards, and I matched her strides. Thanos roared like a wounded animal as he rose to his feet again, bloodlust clear in his eyes as he surveyed the line of us, screaming and panting, until his eyes came to rest on me.

And my blood ran cold.

“ _You._ ”

I backed away but my feet soon caught under me, sending me back into the dust as Thanos strode towards me with fists raised. I tried to scramble off the ground. Steve came up behind me and weakly tried to lift me to my feet, but faltered as the exhaustion reached his arms. The seconds that separated Thanos from me flew in an instant as he suddenly stood just a foot away, roaring like a monster before it makes its kill.

But just as quickly as he had come, he fell to his knees and his head slid smoothly off his neck and onto the field.

Nebula collapsed on the ground beside me, panting as silent tears ran down her cheeks and blood pooled under the edge of her sword.

With the little remaining strength in my body, I turned away from her and emptied what little was in my stomach onto the field, coughing up bile and chocking on tears. I felt Steve’s hand shaking on the back of my neck as he moved the tail of my hair away from the stream of sick that was pouring from me. My arms shook beneath me as I looked up and down the line of teammates as they stumbled around the field. A number of them had found a spot on the ground as I had. Scott had his head pressed tight between his knees as Hope stroked a lazy hand over his shoulders. Parker was sprawled out on the field, taking deep belly breaths and covering his eyes with his forearm. Bucky and Sam where hugging each other and swaying back and forth. Tony was leaning on Rhodey and making expressionless quips about something I couldn’t hear. All down the line people seemed to be coping in their own way. Everyone was fine,but there was no doubt that this was a hit that would be felt for days to come. Weeks even.

I scooted away from the mess I’d made and found myself guided onto Steve’s lap. I felt the last tensions of my body evaporate as I wrapped my legs around his waist and pillowed my head on his shoulder. His arms draped loosely over my hips and his fingers drew tiny circles on the small of my back. He smelled like sweat and cotton and his beard was corse against my neck, but all my other sense faded away as I let the soft thumping of his heart fall in sync with mine, and I rode that sound towards—.

“Shit.”

Steve’s voice croaked in my ear and my eyes snapped open. Twisting against him, I looked to the far side of the field and saw Thanos’s men creeping curiously forward, throwing concerned glances towards their leader’s limp body.

“Shit.” I parroted as I struggled to peel myself off of Steve. We stood together and took a slow step towards the approaching aliens. Without shifting my gaze I lent a limp hand to Nebula and grounded myself as she pulled herself off the field. Together the three of us watched as the rest of the team rose from the dirt and stood, weakly as Earth’s last line of defense. There were no words, no plans, no quips, only empty stares and tired feet as we yet again faced Thanos’s army.

But the day seemed to be full of welcome surprises.

Just outside the forcefield, a missile struck one of the three alien ships and it erupted in flames. The forces on the field went into a frenzy as they watched their ship crumple to the ground. They turned tail and ran back towards the remaining ships as their largest vessel smoldered. And, like the voice of God, our savior came on the coms.

“Well, it looks like you guys could use a hand.”

A helicarrier the size of Manhattan soared into view and I could practically see Fury smirking from the control room. For all their lethargy, a cheer rose through the weary line as Fury sent another missile sailing into a second ship, sending it down just as dramatically as the first. The last of Thanos’s men scurried onto the final ship and it soared up into the upper atmosphere and beyond, ridding Wakanda off all but the rubble they left behind.

I couldn’t stop laughing as I watched fury swing the helicarrier around the front of the field and shoot a finally celebratory shot into the sky and letting it explode like a massive firework just for us. My legs shook as I jumped up and down, screaming with the rest of the team, filled with utter elation and relief. I turned to see Steve smiling behind me, a soft tear running down his face and leaving tracks in the dust that covered his cheeks. I reached up and brushed the tear away with the pad of my thumb, letting my hand linger on the side of his face. His eyes locked with mine and I laughed, breaking my gaze and letting my hand fall from his cheek. But his hand caught mine as fell and brought it to rest, gingerly over his heart. I looked back at him and saw that he was smiling, too exhausted to hide anything and letting the love and conflict shine brightly in his eyes. I smiled back, stepping into his chest and letting my hand grip the straps of his uniform. I closed my eyes and swayed in his arms, listening to the cheers of our team ring through the air as the sun crested in the sky.

———————————————————————————————————————

No one protested when Fury ordered we all fall back and let his men clean up the mess Thanos left behind. We all staggered back to our rooms, shutting doors and drawing shades as the afternoon turned to evening. Steve walked me all the way back to my door with his arm heavy over my shoulders in a way that must’ve looked affectionate to everyone watching (which they were), but was also the perfect excuse for him to lean on me as he struggled to support his own weight.

I peeled off my suit and left in crumpled on the floor of my room. I forced myself to walk the painful steps to the shower and set the water running as hot as I could make it. Turning away from the shower, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My face was still covered in dust and streaked in mud where my tears had made a path. My hair was springing up out of its braid in tufts and was also thoroughly filthy. There was a harsh tan line that separated the skin my suit had covered from the rest of me.

I sighed at my haggard appearance and turned to step into the shower when something caught my eye. I twisted myself in front of the mirror and saw that there was a bright white scar that ran along the top of my back.  
I gasped and wiggled onto the countertop so I could sit right up against the mirror. I traced the new line with my fingertips, following it from the center of my back all the way down to the palms of my hands where it finally faded. I studied my body in shock as the bathroom filled with steam, tracing over my scar over and over again as if I thought it would fade. But it didn’t. And something told me it wouldn’t.

Eventually the mirror’s face was clouded with steam and I forced myself off the counter and under the hot water. I moaned as it hit my body, and no effort needed to be made to forget everything except the feeling of my muscles going soft under the firm pounding of the water’s stream. Slow hands drew suds all over my body until I was free of the sweat and grime that painted every inch of me when I walked off the field. And when I finally stumbled out of the shower and collapsed, still dripping, onto my bed, my eyes closed so heavily that they wouldn’t open again for three whole days…

…But when they did open, I was starving.

Dragging myself out of bed, I pulled a long robe out of the closet and tied it snuggly around my waist. I pulled my door open and swayed into the hallway. There were voices coming from the living room, but there was no one in my immediate line of sight. Taking those groggy, sleep addled steps that are customary when you wake up mid-afternoon, I made my way towards the kitchenette.

“Look who’s still alive,” Sam smirked as I rounded the corner.

I smiled at him and made a dramatic bow as I sashayed into the space. “Against all odds,” I mumbled as I shoved past him to pick through the well stocked cabinets.

“Yeah, you’re telling us,” Sam grumbled. “Hear that Buck? She’s acting like she’s the one who escaped death when _we_ were the ones that were gonna turn to powder.”

“Dust.” I corrected.

“Even better,” Sam laughed.

Bucky lifted his head from the couch and stood. “Well, it looks like,” he came up behind me and ruffled my bedhead, “we’re all still here to fight another day.” He reached over me to grab a bag of chips from the top shelf and my mouth watered at the sight of them. I lifted myself on my toes to reach the chips on the top shelf and tore open the bag. I swear nothing had ever tasted so good before.

I turned away from the two men and shuffled over to the couch. “Wah are you two waching?” I asked through a mouth full of chips, setting myself in the middle of the couch.

“Who cares, it’s just noise at this point.” Bucky came and sat next to me, swinging his legs up onto my lap, but I pushed them off with an annoyed groan.

“Why do I always find you guys here? Where is everyone else?”

“Well,” Sam sat in the armchair across the room, “Tony, Strange, and Bruce flew back to the Tower in New York this morning to try and figure out something for your whole portal situation—.”

My heart soared, “Really? They think they can figure it out?”

“Oh yeah, the ego on those guys? They’ll get you home just to spite each other,” Bucky scoffed.

“Yeah, and they went on the same flight as Rhodey and Parker cause they both had to get back to their army and school shit or whatever they’re doing right now.” Sam took a moment to count the team members on his fingers before continuing. “Oh and, Vision and Wanda went to the facility upstate, ya know, to get some space.”

I nodded solemnly.

“And Clint, Scott, and Hope all went back to their farms,” Bucky chimed in.

“Scott and Hope don’t have a farm, dipshit,” Sam replied. “Just let me do the list, old man, your memory’s fading.” Bucky rolled his eyes but stayed silent. “Let’s see… Thor went up north to help his people set up a new community. That Danvers chick fucked back off to where she came from. Oh, and that Guardian group is packing up to leave later today.”

I nodded, “Ok, so that means that the only ones here are the Wakandans, Natasha, the both of you, and—.”

“And me.” Steve came bounding up the stairs, wiping sweat from his brow with the hem of his shirt.

I made a point to look away so I wouldn’t be accused of ogling the skin he was showing so flagrantly with the action, but the flush that rose to my cheeks didn’t go unnoticed by any of the men in the room.

“Nice to see you’re still with us,” Steve said over his shoulder as he grabbed a water bottle from the fridge.

“It’s not like there’s much of an us left at this point, is there?” I scoffed. “Everyone’s gone already.”

“Everyone? Damn, you’re hurting my feelings,” Bucky feigned a hurt look and scooted closer to me on the couch, throwing an arm over my shoulders. “Ain’t ya glad to still have me around?”

I couldn’t help but smile at him, I think I even let a small laugh pass my lips despite my best efforts. But I had missed him. And now I’d finally get to be around him without imminent death hanging over our heads.

Steve closed the fridge door with a slam, although the action seemed to startle even him in hindsight. He walked nonchalantly towards us. “Everyone’s gone for now, but mostly of them will be back for Tony’s wedding. Hell, they’ll probably be back at the Tower before then.” He took a swig of his water and I couldn’t help but watch bead of sweat run down his throat. “And we should be getting back there too. Wakanda needs time to recover and T’Challa has insisted that we’ve done enough to help. At this point the best thing we can do is get out of their way.”

“I don’t know what good thing any of us did to deserve a guy like him,” Bucky mused.

“I don't think anyone deserves someone like him,” Steve replied. “We’re lucky to have him with us. But now, he needs us out of his hair, so we’re leaving for the Tower tomorrow.”

“Aye, aye Cap,” Sam made a mocking salute and Bucky laughed. Steve cracked a gentle smile and looked at me. His eyes softened for a minute and he looked like he was going to say something. I waited for his next word, but the tension broke too swiftly.

Steve cleared his throat. “I’m gonna go get cleaned up.” With a curt nod, he turned and rounded the corner into the hall, leaving my eyes lingering at the wall’s edge.

“So what now?” I muttered. I looked back at Bucky and Sam who met me with raised brows. “What now? I mean we beat the big bad thing, what happens now?”

Bucky stretched back into the couch. “Well, there’s always gonna be another big bad thing—.”

“True, and it’s usually bigger—.”

“— and badder,” Bucky finished for him, nodding. “But now’s the fun part. We’re in-between big bad’s. This is the time when everything else happens.”

I laughed and shook my head as I let the words sink in. “The fun part…”


	39. The Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoop de boop we're back again. I also added a bonus smut chapter way back in the Pietro era for anyone who wants to look for it.

After a brief trip back to my room to brush my teeth, tame my hair, and throw on an outfit slightly more professional than a robe, I made my way up to the landing pads. The elevator doors opened on a sunny platform that boasted a ship as big as a house. I made no attempt to hide my awe as I walked towards the space ship.

“You like it?”

I looked down and found Rocket at my feet, his arms crossed as he surveyed the ship approvingly.

“That lady with the short hair and the glow-y eyes got it for us but she wouldn’t say where and hey, I’m not one to go asking so—,” he shrugged, “all I know is she knows how to steal a good ship.”

I laughed as I looked at the gleaming metal, “I’m sure she didn’t steal—.”

“Hey, hey, hey like I said,” Rocket held up his hands in mock protest, “I’m not asking any questions here. I just think you’ve got good taste in friends is all.” His eyes caught on Groot as he loaded an especially heavy box onto the ship. “Hey, hey! Don’t put that there!” He started towards the ship’s boarding ramp.

“Wait, Rocket!”

He turned back to look at me.

“Do you know where Nebula and Peter are?”

“Oh, those assholes? Yeah, they’re inside, come on, I’ll show you.”

I smiled and followed him onto the ship, stopping with him as he instructed Groot where to put the explosive boxes, which filled me with a brief worry that I quickly brushed aside, and then continuing up to the control center of the ship. Quill stood at the front of the cockpit, looking into some sort of computer screen. Nebula sat at the side, fiddling with the wiring on one of the side panels.

“Look who’s here,” Rocket announced as we stepped into the space. Nebula and Quill both turned towards me and I felt a sudden wave of awkwardness.

“Hey, yeah, I just wanted to come and, you know, thank you.” I looked at Nebula, “You literally saved my life, so… thank you. For that.” I stumbled over my words and I could feel the flush rising in my cheeks. “And Quill, your whole team,” I looked down at Rocket, “thank you for all your help.”

There was a strange silence and I suddenly regretted existing.

Quill nodded. “Well, thanks for that.” He turned away from me.

“And,” I spat out, determined to say what I came to say, “I really am sorry about Gamora.” I saw his shoulders sink. “Really. I know how much she meant to you.” I looked at Nebula. “Both of you.” I took a deep breath and looked Quill directly in the eye. “I know I should’ve let Mantis tell you about her on Titan. I’m sorry. And I’m sorry I couldn’t save her.”

Quill pursed his lips and looked away. “Yeah,” he nodded to himself, “I know.” He turned back towards the screen, “It’s ok.”

I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. “Ok.” I said, nodding my goodbye to Nebula and following Rocket back out of the cockpit. I hugged him and Groot and told them that they’d have to thank Drax and Mantis for me since they weren’t around right now. Rocket told me he’d make sure they got the message and I smiled as I turned away from them, wiping away a quiet tear as I thought about how much I’d changed their storyline. The rumors I’d heard of how their story was supposed to go after Thanos’s dust had settled. How much they might’ve gotten back if I hadn’t done what I did. But it was all if’s anyway. And there was nothing to be done about it now.

I rubbed my temples all the way back to the residential halls. _It’s over now, now you’re in the fun part._ I smiled to myself. _The fun part._ No more Thanos, no more dusting, no more changing the course of events. I was back. For the first time in years, I was with my heroes again. I wasn’t going to let this moment pass me by. Now it was _the fun part._

And hell was I gonna have some fun.

———————————————————————————————————————

I wiped sweaty palms on the six inches of skirt that clung to my hips as I paced the empty common space. My smooth legs slid against each other with every nervous footstep, the sweet smelling lotion that had soothed a messy shave perfuming the air.

_This was a bad idea,_ I thought to myself as I grabbed a paper towel from the kitchenette and dabbed furiously at the sweat under my crop top. Pursing glossed lips, I debated going back to my room, taking off the mascara and the uncomfortable lingerie and spending the rest of this peaceful night in sweatpants, but just as my resolve sputtered, there was a sound from the hall.

My heart kept into my throat and I dashed to the kitchenette counter. _Just like you practiced…_ I heard the footsteps nearing the common room. _This is it._ I opened the cabinet above my head and reached up towards the top shelf, arching my back and bending far over the counter’s edge so that the bit of clothing I was wearing covered precious little.

I heard the footsteps round the corner and come to a dead stop, but I wouldn’t risk my act with a glance back towards him. No, I was going to sell this. I shifted on my feet, wiggling my hips higher on the counter and made a truly pornographic whining sound as I reached for the top shelf.

The footsteps started up again, coming towards me slowly, carefully. I smirked as I kept reaching, letting myself whine again, louder this time, with more gusto. The steps stopped behind me and I waited to feel Steve’s hands on my hips, but instead all I got was a voice.

“Whatchya doin’ there doll?”

I gasped in a very not cute way and spun around to find myself nose to nose with Bucky.

“What the hell?!” I whisper-yelled at the super soldier as I yanked my crop top down to cover the expanse of skin I had been showing before.

Bucky’s eyes suddenly went wide as they flew to my chest and then quickly stuck to the ceiling. He cleared his throat. “That’s a nice shirt you’re almost wearing.”

I looked down and found my crop top stretched taunt across my stomach, fulling revealing one of the more scandalous bras I’d managed to find in my closet. I gasped again and righted my shirt before wrapping my arms tightly around my stomach.

“What do you want, Buck?” I grumbled as the man tried to stifle his laughter.

“Well, I was just coming to get something to eat. ‘Never expected to get dinner and a show.” He grinned and looked me up and down with raised brows, “I think the real question is, what do _you_ want?”

“I was just trying to get something off the top shelf,” I muttered.

“Oh really?” He scoffed and reached effortlessly up to the shelf in question. “What were you looking for up there? The, uh,” he pulled the lone box from the shelf, and grinned. “Cornstarch?” I paled as he laughed and reached over my head again to replace the box and close the cabinet. “Doll, remind me to never take you undercover. You just can’t lie.”

I smacked him on the arm and sulked past him, pinching the hem of my skirt as I walked away so it wouldn’t creep up and give any more of a ‘show’ than it already had. I planted myself on the couch and set my head in my hands. “I’m such a fucking idiot.”

“Yeah, but you’re in good company, what with Sam and Steve and everything.” Bucky followed me to the couch and sat beside me. “I’m guessing I’m not the one this whole… getup was meant for?”

I groaned and leaned back into the couch, pulling a pillow on to my lap to cover my near nakedness. _I knew that was a bad idea_ , I chastised myself as I hugged the pillow.

Bucky watched me quietly, friendly concern clouding his eyes. “So you still haven't talked to Steve.”

“I haven’t seen him since this afternoon. I feel like he’s been avoiding me and I just thought that— you know maybe I should wait for him.”

“You do know he has a phone. And a door you can knock on.”

“I know but I figured he’s been avoiding me for a reason. I didn’t want him to think I’m desperate or anything.”

“So instead you laid siege to the kitchen.”

“Ok, fine! It wasn’t my best plan.”

A new voice sounded from behind us. “You can say that again.”

Bucky and I turned to find Natasha casually eating a handful of nuts as she sat on the kitchen island.

With a labored breath, I rubbed away at the pounding sensation in my temple. “Nat, how long have you been there?”

“A while.”

“Oh, good. Great, ok. So you’re all caught up then.”

“Oh yeah,” she popped a cashew into her mouth. “I’m with Bucky by the way.”

“Fantastic,” I nodded sarcastically and looked between the pair of assassins. “Glad you two are on the same page.”

“I’m just saying,” she continued much to my chagrin, “Steve was looking awfully happy to have you around after the snap. I think just talking to him might go a long way.”

“I tried just talking to him. I talked to him before the battle and he made it very clear that he wasn’t interested.”

Bucky raised his brows. “He told you, explicitly, that he wasn’t interested?”

I stammered, “Well, no, not explicitly—.”

Nat cut me off. “Did he turn you down?”

“No, I mean—. I don’t know. I was just leveling with him before the fight and he— he didn’t say anything.”

“And this was after you told him you had feelings for him?”

“Well, I didn’t exactly say tell him I had feelings for him. I was more trying to relate to him as a person I’m very close to in my life.”

Bucky and Natasha shared a full look.

“So neither of you,” Natasha started, “has either confirmed or denied your feelings for the other.”

I shrunk on the couch and in a very small voice replied: “Not in so many words. No.”

She rolled her eyes and popped the rest of her snack in her mouth. Chewing noisily, she whipped out her phone and started typing away. I looked over at Bucky for an explanation, but he was busy rubbing his face and bemoaning the “lovesick idiots” in his life.

Natasha’s typing stopped as suddenly as it began and she hopped off the island with ease. “Here’s what’s going to happen next. Since neither of you seem capable of handling this like adults, you’ve lost the privilege of handling your own love lives.”

“What? Nat—.”

“No, no. It’s for your own good. But more importantly, it’s for the greater good because watching the two of you dance around each other is driving everyone fucking crazy.”

“She’s not wrong,” Bucky agreed from his spot on the couch and I fought the urge to throw the pillow protecting my remaining modesty at his face. “It’s affecting your work, and it’s affecting all of our lives.” He flashed a wicked smile at Natasha, “I think it’s time you let your friends take care of the problem for you.”

I groaned and buried my face in the pillow. “I know you both mean well right now, but whenever you plot, you start to sound super murder-y.”

Natasha brushed me off. “Don’t worry about that. We’d never do anything to hurt Steve too much. Now, go change into something more comfortable and let Bucky and I take care of the rest.”

Suspicious and uneasy, I shuffled off the couch, tugging on my skirt as I stood. “Ok, fine. But just know that I’m leaving because it is my choice and not because you told me to, or because this skirt is cutting off my circulation.” I edged around the common space and backed away from them slowly, watching as they convened around the kitchen island, and began to plan.

———————————————————————————————————————

The next morning came quickly as the remaining team members met early on the flight deck. The fresh sunlight lit the way as we we all loaded sparse bags of necessities onto the quinjet. I rubbed sleep out of my eyes as I staggered up the hangar and into the belly of the ship, sitting hard on the first empty seat I saw. I yawned as I tossed a hollow bag underneath my seat and nuzzled into the unforgiving structure of the chair. I remembered a time when I had trained myself to sleep on the harsh seats of a quinjet, but now I couldn’t seem to find a posture that would bring me any comfort.

“Need a hand?” Bucky scoffed as he wiggled into the seat next to me. “Not exactly the feather bed you're used to, princess?”

I groaned and shifted in the seat until I could rest my head on Bucky’s shoulder. “You say that as if you haven’t been enjoying the finest perks of Wakandan hospitality for the past two years.”

“Three, doll. And you’re right about that. Nothing really holds a candle to Vibranium memory foam. Tony’s been trying to buy that recipe off T’Challa for years, but no dice… They’re keeping that secret locked up tight.”

I peaked up at him and laughed at the wistful expression that spread across his face. He smiled with me and I took in a beat of joy as I relished the normalcy of the moment. I snuggled back into his shoulder.

“By the way,” he whispered, as Steve came into view through the hangar door. “Nat and I did work out a plan for that little situation of yours.”

My heart sputtered and my body stiffened at the sensitive information. I sighed myself into imitated nonchalance. “And what kind of plan did you decide on?”

He shrugged, jostling my head. “Nothing for you to worry about. Just an old assassin trick. But I will tell you it guarantees results.”

The two of us glanced out at Steve talking to Sam on the platform.

“What kind of results?”

“Well,” Bucky dropped his voice as Steve and Sam stepped into the ship with Natasha close behind. “ _Something_ will happen.”

I bristled at his words, but couldn’t hint at my displeasure with Steve and Sam settling in across the jet. Natasha, however, could read my face from a mile away, and did not hesitate to flash me her most mischievous smirk as she made her way to the cockpit.

I gritted my teeth and forced a smile in her direction. “You two are going to be the death of me,” I whispered, but Bucky quickly hushed me with a soothing hand.

“Just try and get some sleep,” he said loudly as he guided my head from his shoulder to his lap. I grumbled at the shift but was grateful for the extra comfort as I laid across the quinjet seats. I felt Bucky’s hand come up to gently stroke my hair as my eyes started to flutter closed again. “Just go to sleep,” he purred.

I could feel myself relaxing under his touch as sleep came to grab me once again in these early morning hours. Yet as my vision blurred and began to fade, I could swear I saw Steve watching me. Watching us.

Something curious stirred deep inside me, but sleep pushed it away. The jet rolled me into light dreams. Walking in a park somewhere on a sunny day. Warm bread and cool white wine. Hands holding mine. I smiled and hummed into the fantasy. The sound of birds early in the morning. The fresh wet smell of grass in the morning. Those hands lifting me into the air, spinning me around, setting me down on something soft. Sheets. Clean white sheets. I could feel the fabric between my fingers, against my arms, the suddenly bare skin of my back. And then those hands again, tracing up my thighs. Fingers pressing tightly into my hips. And lips… God, lips soft and smooth following the fingers. Lips on my legs, on my stomach, on my chest, and finally, _finally_ kissing me. My breath caught in my throat as my mind pulled memory into dream and I felt Steve kissing me just like he had that day in the forrest. I could feel his scruff against my cheeks, the tension in his jaw. And then fantasy took over again and the kiss deepened. My fingers tangled in his hair as his tightened their hold on my thighs. His mouth moved against mine with a rhythm, a rolling that traveled down his body and pulled his hips towards mine. My back arched off the sheets and he slid a hand under my waist to pull me flush against his chest. I moaned into his mouth as he shifted me higher on the sheets, his hips pressing tantalizingly between my legs once more as we moved up the bed. His mouth left mine to kiss my jaw, my neck. My mind went blank as his lips worked over me, my heart fluttering in my chest as his mouth traveled to my collarbone, then to my chest, then to my stomach, then to my—.

“Oh!” I gasped, my eyes bursting open as the jet dipped low in the sky.

“Woah, hey there,” Bucky chuckled above me, stroking a stray hair from my face. “It’s just a bit of turbulence.”

I lifted myself off him and settled back into my seat, pressing my hand to my forehead to cool myself down. “Sorry about that,” I laughed. “Thanks for letting me sleep on you.”

“Oh, anytime, doll,” he said, spreading his knees and folding his hands behind his head. He threw a subtle glance to the other side of the jet and rises his voice. “This lap is yours whenever you need it.”

I tried not to laugh at his sudden outburst. Instead I rolled my eyes and stood, stretching briefly. “Jesus, I forgot how much these seats make my back hurt.”

“Oh no, doll,” Bucky grabbed my hand and spun me gracefully on to his lap. With gentle hands he massaged me shoulders, making me sigh in relief. “How that?” he whispered in my ear, and I could hear the teasing smirk in his voice, “better than that dream you were just having?”

I launched off him, landing clumsily on my feet just as the jet hit another dip and my balance went sideways. Strong arms caught me halfway to the ground.

“Careful,” Steve’s voice warned.

I looked up to find him holding me above the floor of the jet and my heart went soft. His eyes were worried for a moment, but changed as they met mine. I saw them smile, just for a second, and I felt hope rise high in my chest. But as quickly as it came, the joy flicked away, replaced again with the worry and sadness that seemed all too familiar to him. I looked away before he could and let him bring me to my feet in silence. Muttering a quick thanks, I turned on a dime and made me way up towards the cockpit, but not before I heard a sharp smack, a disgruntled whine, and Steve’s voice ordering Bucky to “quit playing around.”

I collapsed into the copilot’s seat, my limbs falling limply from my body. My stomach was in knots and my skin was still tingling from the imagined touch from my dream, and then the very real touch just moment ago. It was too much. My heart was swimming in champagne and I felt so full and confused and—.

“Trouble sleeping?” Natasha drawled from the seat beside me, halfheartedly shaping her nails with a file that looked suspiciously sharp.

I huffed. “Nat, these boys are going to be the death of me.”

“Well, they’re hardly boys. At least physically,” she smirked. “But I can understand that their little antics can get tiring after a while.”

I shook my head and hazarded a look at the back of the jet. Steve was now drawing quietly beside a sleeping Sam, and Bucky seemed to be trying to take up as much space as possible on the other row of seats. I rolled my eyes and shuffled closer to Natasha, dropping my voice a touch below a whisper.

“So when’s that plan of yours gonna kick in?”

A cat-like grin spread across her face and she looked at me for the first time since I sat down. “Oh, the plan is already in full swing.”

“What? You haven’t done anything yet, how—.”

Nat nodded towards the back of the jet and I looked back just in time to catch Bucky winking at me. My heart sank as understanding washed over me.

“ _That’s your plan?_ ”

Nat shrugged. “It’s always worked before. Not that you should be worried about it. You just go back to sleep. We’ll take care of the rest.”

“No way!” I whisper-yelled. “I’m not just gonna nap while you and Bucky—.” I gasped as I felt a sharp pain in my thigh.

“I wasn’t asking.”

I looked down just in time to see Nat pull the needle out of my leg and toss it in the bag beside her. My head went fuzzy.

“Nat, what the fu—.”

“Hey Bucky, looks like your girl is tired again. What do you say you put that lap to good use.”

“ _Oh, you bit—._ ”

Bucky’s chuckles cut me off as he bounded over and scooped my spaghetti-stiff body into his arms. “Oh don’t worry, doll. I’ve got you now.”


	40. Comedy of Errors

The sedatives wore off slowly, and inside out. By the time the jet landed, I was perfectly cognizant of what was going on. The vivid dreams had faded from my mind, I could hear Bucky’s soft breaths above me, and Natasha replying to landing procedures with clipped commands. But despite my best attempts, I was wholly unable to move a single muscle. So instead, I laid, corpse-like, on Bucky’s lap and listened as _the plan_ played out.

The jet shook as it made contact with the landing pad.

“We’re here,” Nat announced, her light steps crossing from the cockpit to the back of the ship where the hangar door whirred open. “Someone want to throw something at Sam?”

“Oh, I’m up. I’ve _been_ up. How the hell is a man supposed to sleep when you’re flying this thing like a maniac?”

Nat scoffed. “Well, it looks like _she_ certainly managed to get some rest…”

I could practically hear her gaze falling on me. _Oh, that bitch is so going to get it._

“… so maybe it’s not my flying after all. Maybe someone’s just jealous that they weren't the one using Barnes’s thigh as a pillow.”

“That’s low, Romanov.”

“I couldn’t agree more, Wilson.” Bucky’s voice vibrated from behind me. “It’s ridiculous to assume that anyone would be jealous of this doll’s lil sleeping arrangement.” He gently lifted my head from his lap and cradled me in his arms as I counted the ways I was going to kill him. He stood easily, rocking me back and forth. “I mean just look at her, still fast asleep.”

Steve sighed from across the jet, tossing his sketchbook in his bag aggressively and swinging the pack over his shoulder. But Bucky’s voice stopped him before he could leave.

“Oh, Stevie, you wouldn’t mind grabbing our bags too, would you? I mean, I’d take them myself, but…”

_Oh come on, don’t say it._

“…I seem to have my hands full.”

_How the fuck is this man a ‘secret’ agent?_

Even I could feel the tension in the jet as Steve walked to where Bucky stood. His breath was tight as he went to grab the bag from under the seat, his face passing just inches from mine when he bent down to grab the strap. The heavy fabric of Bucky’s duffle grated against the shoulder of Steve’s jacket, and, with all the curtness of his arrival, Steve turned to leave again. But Bucky was relentless.

“Wait, Stevie, bud, do you think you could grab her bag too? Like I said, I would, but I just—.”

There was a loud thud as Steve threw the bags to the floor of the jet. Heavy footsteps stormed back towards Bucky and I swear I could feel the bastard tense in childlike glee.

“Do you really want to do this now?” Steve growled.

“I don't know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh for fucks sake, Buck— don’t pretend you’re trying to be subtle.”

“Subtle about what? I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”

“Boys, don’t you think this would be a more comfortable conversation to have in the living room downstairs? Or at least in the training rooms where you could actually give us a real show.”

“You’ve done enough, Natasha. Don’t act all innocent now. You know I know what you’re doing.”

“And what exactly are we doing? All I did was ask you to take two little bags down for me. That’s it! And you have to go and throw a bitchfit. Now see, I could’ve just asked you to take her down to her room, but I didn’t want to put you in that kind of a position since your morals are obviously so—.”

“Are you going to start talking to me about morals now, Buck? Like you’re some beacon of gentlemanly decency? Are you forgetting that I knew you before the war or—.”

“Morals or not, he’s not the one making everyone miserable right now.”

“Christ, you too Sam?”

“Hey man, I don’t know what’s going on with them, but I know what’s going on with her. You’re hurting her. She loves you, any idiot could see that. And you’re hurting yourself. You deserve to be happy. I don’t know why you’re fighting this.”

“Fighting this?” Steve yelled. “There is no _this._ She— I mean, I—. Wait a minute, how is she still asleep?”

Three pairs of eyes suddenly landed on me, and in a moment, someone finally managed to piece things together.

“Tell me you didn't sedate her.”

“Steve, he wouldn’t.”

“He’s right, I wouldn’t.”

Silence.

And then clarity.

“Oh, FUCKING HELL, NATASHA.”

“Hey, I didn’t give her much! She was having a hard time sleeping—.”

“Wait, you really _drugged_ her?”

“Sam, I know what you’re thinking, but it was a long flight, I just—.”

“So you give her some goddamn Nyquil, Nat! Just look at her! She's like a fucking zombie! It’s the fucking Walking Dead over here! What were you thinking?”

“What are you talking about? She looks great to me, like Snow White, right Stevie? You remember that one?”

“You mean the one where they thought she was _dead?”_

“Ok, I see your point there, but—.”

“Unbelievable.”

Steve stormed off the jet, his footsteps heavy on the hangar door.

“Shit,” Bucky whispered under his breath. “Well, that could’ve gone better.”

“I’m just speechless,” Sam sputtered. “I mean I just can’t imagine how the two of you could’ve fucked this up any more. Do you see what happens when you try to plan things _without me?_ Do you have any idea how to deal with people that _aren’t master assassins?_ ”

“он прав—,” Natasha started.

“No! No Russian for you! No Russian for either of you!” Sam grabbed his bag and started off the jet. “Just put her in bed, and leave everything _the fuck alone._ ”

———————————————————————————————————————

After another hour of ‘sleeping,’ I slowly started to remember how to move. It started in the fingers, just a little tingling and then a twitch. With a bit more strain, I was able to open my eyelids and blink. A little while longer and I successfully managed to roll my head towards the window, where I spent the next couple of hours watching the sun slowly set over New York. And when the last of the suns rays finally let go of the silver city, I knew:

It was time.

Pushing my body off the mattress, I struggled into a seated position. I grabbed a handful of each thigh and swung my legs over the side of the bed. The blood rushed through my body, sending pinpricks all over my skin. I gritted my teeth against the discomfort as my hands dangled my feet over the floor until my soles met the ground fully and firmly. And with a huff and a push, I propelled myself off the bed and immediately on to the floor.

_Fuck._

There was a knock on the door.

“You ok in there?” Sam asked. “I thought I heard something.”

I grimaced. “Yeah, that would’ve been the sound of my body hitting the floor.”

The door opened a crack.

“Can I come in?”

“Can you help me up?”

The door opened further and he crept into the dark room.

“Jesus,” he ran to my side and made quick work of flipping me on to my back, “What happened?”

I groaned as he pulled me onto my feet and I leaned into him. “I tried to stand up,” I muttered as I used him to balance myself. “Apparently being perpendicular to the floor is no longer in my skillset.” I gripped his arms and swayed until my body could stand on its own.

“Is this some side effect of the sedative Nat gave you?”

“Oh, you bet your ass,” I growled. “In fact, I think the next side effect is going to be _her_ ass, hitting the ground.” I turned and made for the door, but stumbled again.

Sam caught me before I could hit the floor and helped me up again. “Or, maybe, before you start hitting super assassins, you could remember how to walk?”

I wanted to glare at him, but the earnest look on his face softened my heart.

“Fine.”

Over the next forty minutes, Sam was kind enough to guide me through a series of exercises, and after the blood returned to all my limbs, things started working pretty ok again. I could limp forward pretty effectively, and my arms, although not as graceful as they once were, could swing pretty easily at a steady target. So, as the clock rounded 9 pm, Sam half carried me through the hall, and towards the voices in the common room. As planned, he released me before we rounded the corner into the sight lines of our teammates, instead hovering closing behind as an invisible backup support. And on steady legs, I walked into the large room.

“There she is,” came Tony’s voice as he stood from the couch and walked over to hug me. “I heard you were sound asleep after the flight, so we didn’t want to wake you.”

I scoffed, “Oh, is _that_ what you heard?”

Confusion flashed across his face for a moment before Bruce came over to hug me as well.

“Welcome home, kid. I know it’s been a while…”

Sentimentality suddenly parted my rage and I realized just how true his words were. I looked up at the room around me, the room I knew, and I remembered just how many year it’d been since I’d stood here. With my friends. With my family.

But then Bucky peaked out from behind the scientists and sentimentality evaporated.

“Hey, we saved you some pizza,” the super soldier gestured to the kitchen island behind him. “How long have you been up?”

I forced myself to smile at him, “Just an hour or so.”

Genuine surprise crossed his face and he made a nervous glance towards Natasha back on the couch. “Really?”

I nodded so vigorously I almost lost my balance, but I strong-armed myself into standing. “Yeah, Sam and I were just working on something.”

“Oh? What were you working on?”

“This.”

With all the energy I could muster I flung my arm from my side and slapped him across the face. The force of the smack sent my axis way off kilter, but Sam was there behind me to steady me again.

“Atta girl,” he whispered in my ear, chuckling at the sight of Bucky’s red cheek. I beamed as I regained my balance and watched Bucky rub his injured cheek.

“Huh,” Tony said, bewildered. “I’m confused, was that warranted?”

“Oh, I’d say it was,” Steve stood from the couch, smirking and crossing his arms over his chest. He looked to Natasha who had stood at the sound of the slap. “I think it’s your turn next, isn’t it Nat?”

My eyes flew to him. “And what are you so smug about?”

“Yeah, actually, what are you so smug about?” Bruce asked as he edged further behind Tony. “Is anybody going to tell us what’s going on?”

“Now that’s a great question,” I started. “Natasha,do you want to explain what’s going on?”

The assassin glued her eyes to the floor.

“No? Ok, maybe Bucky, maybe you want to ex— I’m sorry are you getting an ice pack?”

Bucky, who had had been sheepishly opening the freezer door, froze under the eyes of the room. “It hurt,” he mumbled in a small voice.

“ _You’re a super soldier.”_

“… it still hurt.”

“Oh my god,” I shook my head. “Ok. Ok, fine. If no one else wants to explain what’s going on, maybe I should.”

“Wait, just hold on a second,” Steve spoke up, walking over from the couch.

“Oh, now you want to talk?” I laughed, stumbling drunkly towards him as I tried to control my limbs. “You’ve had all this time to talk to me and you couldn’t do it, but now, _now_ you have something to say?”

He narrowed his eyes. “You need to calm down.”

“ _Calm down_? I was just _drugged!_ I couldn’t move for _hours!_ And you want me to calm down?”

“Wait, you were drugged?” Bruce asked. “Who the hell drugged you?”

“Natasha,” Sam answered.

“ _What?_ ”

“Hey, it was just a mild sedative! They used to give them to us all the time when we were kids.”

I looked at Natasha aghast. “Ok, well we’re going to have to unpack _that_ later because that is _horrifying_. But the point is, Steve was being such a shit that Nat and Bucky decided to take matters into their own hands by drugging me!”

“How the hell are you blaming _them_ drugging you on _me?_ ”

“Well, you’re the reason they did it!”

“And that makes me culpable?”

“It makes you a shit.”

“You have been a shit lately.”

“See! Thank you, Bucky.”

“So you’re going to thank the person who just drugged you?”

“Hey, I didn’t do the drugging, I just assisted.”

“ _How_ is that any better?”

“Well, there is a slight hierarchy there, I mean,” Tony cleared his throat. “Of course it’s better to not be involved in the drugging at all, like me, but—.”

“I can’t believe I’m having this conversation,” Steve rubbed his face. “ _I_ am not responsible for drugging you. _I_ didn’t think of this plan. So _I_ am going to bed.” He turned to leave and I couldn’t help but laugh, loudly, tumbling off balance just as he passed me, and winding up caught in his arms for the second time that day.

I gasped at the sudden contact as he held me, and he seemed just as taken aback by the surprise closeness. I fought to catch my breath as he raised me to my feet, his arms still wrapped around me as I steadied myself.

“Typical,” I whispered as my eyes traced his face. “Running away from another conversation you don’t want to have.”

He looked down at me. “I would never run from you.”

Tears welled in my eyes. “But you did. Over and over, every time I try to talk to you, to understand, you just… run.”

“No, you… you don't understand.”

“You’re right. I don’t.” A tear fell past my pride and landed on my cheek. “I, very clearly, don’t have any idea what I’m talking about. I misread this whole stupid situation. I guess you not giving any answer should’ve been enough of an answer from the get go.”

“That’s not what I mean—.”

“Then you better find a way to tell me what you mean,” I wiped the tears from my cheeks. “Because until then, I want nothing to do with you.”


	41. Fight, Flight, or F...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S BEEN A WHILE. But I'm back and actually more on my shit than ever? Here's a super long chapter since there was SUCH a wait *cough cough-- months--cough cough*

Morning came fast over the east river and stole me out of my dreams earlier than I’d anticipated. Or wanted.

I groaned as I stretched in the wide bed, letting my sheets tangle between my legs and my head press deeply into the pile of pillows.

_I could stay here,_ I thought, watching the sun flick off the hair on my arm. _I could pretend nothing happened. Tell everyone that the sedative had swept my mind away and left me empty. Steve who? I did what? No, no that doesn’t sound like me._

I flopped over in the bed and yelled into one of the many pillows. I had to get up. I had to face this.

_If Thanos had only been as terrifying as unrequited love, he might’ve had a shot._

I slouched into the unfamiliar, but comfortable, clothes I found in the dresser, brushed my teeth, and pulled my hair off my face before sliding out of my room and creeping towards the kitchen.

I tiptoed on light feet, hoping, _praying,_ to make it through the morning unseen. Or at least to give myself a few moments of peace before having to face the embarrassment of last night. But as I rounded the corner into the kitchen, it seemed my prayers had fallen on deaf ears.

Standing expectantly at the kitchen island were Bucky and Natasha, eager smirks plastered across each of their faces and a pile of doughnuts ten inches tall on the counter in front of them.

I brought heavy hands to my temples and tried to massage away the newfound tension. “You two have been busy.” I pulled my hands down my face and squinted at the top of the pile of sweets ahead. “Is that a candle?”

The assassins nodded.

“How did you know when to light it?”

They looked at each other before Nat answered. “We’ve been waiting for you to wake up. And then we heard you in the hallway.”

“But you might want to blow it out soon,” Bucky piled on, “because that top doughnut is starting to be more wax than frosting.”

I couldn’t help the wry smile that worked its way onto my lips. Biting the inside of my cheek, I walked over to the counter, leaned over, and gently blew out the nub of a candle. I took a deep breath and let the smell of pastry fill my nose, gasping softly at the familiar scent.

“Are these from Lou’s?”

Nat closed her lips in a mischievous smirk and shrugged. “Maybe. Who knows, you might just have to try them and find out.”

Again my lips twisted into a smile as I sat and shuffled a doughnut from the top of the pile. Biting into it drug a deep hum of appreciation from the depths of my stomach. Nat and Bucky laughed as I dove further into the doughnut, sitting next to me at the island and falling into the next stage of their plan.

“Now that you’ve taken the bait,” Nat teased before her eyes softened into sincerity. “We’re sorry. Very, truly, wholly sorry.”

“Yeah,” Bucky agreed. “We shouldn’t’ve tried to get involved with your life like that.”

“You know,” I spoke through a mouthful of doughnut, “the whole ‘getting involved with my life’-thing was much less worrying than the literal drugging.”

The two exchanged a guilty look. Bucky cleared his throat.

“You know,” he started with a thick accent, “drugging can be quite common in some cultures. Back when I was in Soviet Russia—.”

Nat smacked him on the arm. “We’re sorry for that too. In fact mostly sorry for that. We should’t’ve done that to you and we’ll never do it again.”

I looked between the two of them, and then over to the tower of doughnuts that was starting to lean heavily to one side. I sighed. “Alright. I know your intentions were good, and I’ll make allowances for both of your,” I searched for the word. “Extenuating circumstances? Lack of socialization? Assassin-ness? I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter. I forgive you, just _don’t do it again._ ” I glared at the two of them as the nodded like earnest schoolchildren. “And Bucky, I’m sorry for hitting you.”

The super soldier smiled and held up his hands in mock surrender. “Hey, doll, if that’s what it was gonna take for us to get past this, I’m all for it. In fact, if you still need to get some of that anger out, _Nat_ , the one who actually drugged you, has two totally un-smacked cheeks and has kindly volunteered—.”

I laughed as Natasha’s glare stopped his ramble and I felt a reassuring ease fall over me. The embarrassment I’d anticipated was notably absent. It was replaced by doughnuts and sunrise and guilty assassins, a combination that I never would’ve expected to be faced with a week ago, but was suddenly my reality. This was good. I didn’t even know what I was so afraid of before. This was all so—.

_Shit!_

Steve rounded the far side of the kitchen closely flanked by Sam and my heart wrestled its way into my throat. The two men had obviously been deep in conversation when they walked in, but they slowed and quieted as they noticed the three of us seated at the counter. Steve’s eyes met mine, sidelong and halfway, before he clenched his jaw and turned his gaze to the floor. Sam’s eyes, however, flew straight to the pile of sweets on the table.

“Oh, ho, ho, sweet Lou, what would I do without you.” He rubbed his hands together as he made a beeline for a strawberry doughnut on the edge of the pile. Sliding effortlessly into the seat beside me, he nudged my shoulder playfully. “You feeling better?”

I nodded. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” I tired to ignore the way Steve had flung open the refrigerator and was staring at its contents like he had a vendetta against dairy. I read the muscles of his back as they tensed in frustration and a shiver of desire ran underneath my anger. I tore my eyes from the super soldier and stood clumsily from my seat. “Well, I…”

Natasha, Bucky, and Sam looked up at me, waiting for the next page of the drama to unfold. Steve stilled in front of the fridge, his face turned just enough that he could catch me in his peripheral vision.

I swallowed hard, looking for an out. A myriad of excuses circling in my brain. _I’m going back to my room. I’m going to find Tony. I’m going to research pony rentals._ The options were endless, but the words stuck in my throat like glue when I saw Steve’s hand starting to crush the metal of the refrigerator handle.

My brain broke. “I’m going to train.” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I turned on my heels and half ran out of the kitchen, fleeing the room in record time.

————————————————————————————————————————

_Going to train,_ I threw my shirt on the bed in anger. _Great. I could’ve picked any other activity to get out of that situation but no— I had to pick training. And now I have to put on tight clothes and_ ** _run_** _._

I stripped off my sweatpants and threw them down on the bed next to my shirt. I sulked as I tore through the drawers of the dresser, pulling out leggings, socks, _a sports bra_. I groaned at the sight.

“You did this to yourself,” I mumbled as I wiggled into the clothes, toeing on my sneakers and grabbing my phone before opening my door and dragging myself into the hallway.

Voices from the kitchen slowed my measured steps on my way to the elevator. It sounded like a debate— and a heated one at that.

_Damn it._

I knew what they were discussing and I wanted nothing to do with the conversation. On quick, quiet feet, I fled down the hallway, knowing that hiding my noise was useless against super assassins and that my only hope was to outrun the argument before it came to it’s natural conclusion.

I jammed my thumb into the elevator button, once, twice. The voices from down the hall dimmed and I nervously pounded on the button, willing the doors to open so I could take myself safely downstairs or even just fling myself down the shaft. Anything to avoid the awkward conversation that I had demanded of Steve last night.

“Stupid,” I chastised myself. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.” I punctuated each word with anther slam of the button, and like a merciful god, the doors opened. I gasped and fought the urge to jump in glee before scrambling in to the elevator. I turned, a triumphant smile stretched across my face as I pressed the button for the gym floor and watched the doors begin to slide closed. And between them, from down the long hall, two blue eyes turned a corner and met mine, sinking into my gaze with a cold determination that told one simple story: _I’m coming._

And the doors slid shut.

I backed into the walls of the elevator, my heart beating loudly in my chest. He was _mad._ He was _angry_. My head swam. I’d never seen Steve like this before. I felt like prey.

There was a twisted ball inside me that was excited by the heated glare, but it was furiously silenced by the anxiety that drugged around my mind. What was I thinking last night? Why would I try to push him into talking to me? And in front of the team…

I groaned as the doors slid open and I stepped out into the hall.

If there was anything I knew about Steve, it was that he didn’t like to be cornered. Last night I had painted a target on his back, and today the team got to take their shot.

I hurried towards the gym as the elevator doors closed behind me. I knew Steve was close on my tail. He was going to give me the conversation I asked for. But something told me I wasn’t going to like it.

I turned into the training gym, my heart drowning out every sound but the hum of the elevator as it flew to the upper floors to bring me my executioner. An animal instinct in me stilled my movements as I searched for a defensive position.

_I could get on the treadmill. Put in my headphones. Pretend I don’t even notice him come in. Or I could go over to the water fountain, all aloof. Wait for him, like I already know what’s going to happen._

The sound of elevator doors opening from down the hall cut my internal monologue short as my heart leapt out of my chest. I ran to the wall and made to grab a resistance band from the rack. But the second my hand hit the hook, I could feel the cool blue eyes on my back. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, forcing the air to surround and smother the fire in my chest. I let the breath out, my panic seeping out of me and into the floor.

In the corner of my eye, I could see his arms crossed tightly across his chest. He didn’t even bother to feign nonchalance as he leaned against the doorframe and shot his glare across the distance between us.

My panic was replaced by an icy emptiness as silence screamed through the room.

I tried to find some nerve. “Did they send you down here with a script or are you just going to watch me?” I wanted to ignore the way Steve’s eyes narrowed at the prodding question. I muscled myself into a brave face as I turned towards him, meeting his glare with defiant indifference. “Was it Bucky or Nat?”

Steve clenched his jaw and looked at the floor. “Sam,” he answered through gritted teeth. “Said I owed him one.”

Surprise ran through me. “Sam used his DC chit for this?”

Steve wouldn’t meet my eyes.

“You must’ve really not wanted to see me.”

“You’re damn right.” His words were clear and biting even if they were directed at the floor. His eyes moved to mine and a shiver crept down my spine. “I didn’t appreciate the way you spoke to me last night.”

My jaw clenched. “I don’t think it was undeserved.”

“Then we disagree.”

I bit back my anger. “You’ve been avoiding me.” I could see the next words on his lips, but I cut him off. “You go around kissing me and holding me and looking at me in this way that I can’t understand, and then you refuse to talk to me about it!”

“You’re right,” he snapped. “You don’t understand. And you had no right to berate me in front of my own damn team!”

“Well maybe you should listen to your team for once. They know you, they can see what’s going on!”

“And how can _you_ know me? You don’t know my team. You’ve been gone for _years!_ ”

“Maybe I wouldn’t’ve been if you’d _talked_ to me! If you’d _been_ there! If I had been with you that night, I—.”

I stopped myself. My words hung heavy in the air as they sunk into our skins. I could feel the bitter taste of regret filling my mouth. I said it to hurt him and he knew it. The silence was deafening and I could feel my body start to squirm in discomfort.

He shrugged his weight off the doorframe and took slow, measured steps towards me. Stalking forward, his eyes bored into mine, but I rooted my stance in the ground and waited as he grew larger and larger in my field of view. In cold, breathless moments, he had eclipsed my vision, standing inches from me and letting waves of anger radiate off him.

I found courage I didn’t know I had as I swallowed my regret and lifted my chin at him, waiting for an answer, for a word to slip through those pursed lips. I wasn’t going to break under the stress of his anger. He wasn’t going to win.

Steve read my resolve and his eyes turned from angry to calculating. He met my level of determination as he finally turned away from me, walking further into the room and casually surveying the empty space.

“Lets spar.”

Whiplash pounded through my neck as I threw my eyes to the back of his head.

He met my gaze again, this time with goading, arrogant eyes. “You came down here to train, didn’t you?”

My surprise melted into anger. “You can’t be serious.”

He ignored me. “You could certainly use the practice. You were sloppy on the field, everyone could see it.”

I saw red as the tall blonde turned away from me and walked towards the mat. “Don’t pretend this has anything to do with my _training_.” I chased him across the room. “You’re just desperate for a fight. And if you can’t get me to give into your temper tantrum, you’ll settle for throwing me into the mat!”

He stopped and turned so suddenly that my chest froze just breaths away from his. The anger was back in his eyes now, cold and menacing as he looked down at me, and the air between us retreated into my lungs. Words he couldn’t find dissipated in the inches between us before he turned, striding towards the far corner of the mat.

I swallowed hard as the air rushed out of my lungs. I watched as he took his place for the spar, his arms flexing under the thin fabric of his running clothes as he lowered himself into a fighting position. A chill ran up my spine as I followed his lead, nervously preparing myself and frantically searching for weak spots I knew I wouldn’t find.

Our eyes met, long and lingering as we swayed in our defenses. I tried to read into his gaze, to find the moments in between the flashes of dominance. I knew they were there, flickering in the blue of his eyes. I saw the anger, that much was easy. I saw pain, sadness, frustration. And then I saw something else. Something wild, and feral, and determined.

Before he charged.

Panic froze my system as he sped towards me. In two easy strides, he was close enough to grip me around my waist, flip me, and throw me against the ground. He twisted, pinning me, my face pressed hard against the sticky mat. I squirmed for a minute as his weight covered me. Long limbs tangling in mine as my commanding officer held me to the ground. I tapped the mat, paying the price in pride as Steve stood and walked back to his corner, a cocky ease in his gait.

I scrambled to my feet, shaking out my arms and lowering myself as he turned towards me again. His eyes, still angry, glinted with a flash of challenge. Daring me to move.

Adrenaline coursed through me as I took the bait. I ran towards him, striking with my right hand to draw his attention as I jabbed him in the side with my left. The blow fell on marble skin. He grabbed my left wrist and twisted my arm behind me. He pulled me against him, the heat of his chest firm against my back as he pressed my arm between us.

“Come on,” he muttered in my ear. “You know how to get out of this.”

My anger flared at the condescension in the command. I twisted my right leg to hook behind his knee and he released me, by choice, fueling the fire in my heart.

Turning, I ran for him again, but he caught me. With one hand pillowing my head, he threw me back into the mat. I tried to wrestle from his hold, but strong hands captured my wrists and pulled them taunt over my head. Holding himself over me with a single arm, he trapped my legs with his.

Our faces were inches apart as he dragged his eyes from my heaving chest up my neck. They froze for a moment on my mouth, watching the heated pants drive through my parted lips. I could see his jaw clench, his breath freezing in his chest. My breath slowed but my heart kept its rapid pace as I watched his eyes finally fall on mine. He was so close.

He let go of my wrists and lifted himself off of me. I felt my skin go numb. He turned as he started to stand from the mat.

_No._

In a desperate rage, I kicked his weight out from under him, sending him tumbling backwards. I seized my moment and jumped on top of him, pining one wrist under my right leg and the other with my left hand as I laid my body heavily across him.

The annoyance was back in his eyes as he glared at me. “Really?” he mocked.

But I was unrelenting. I sunk my weight on top of his chest. He _would_ feel me. He _would_ see me. He would not leave me here _unsatisfied_.

In an easy motion, he swept me off his chest, tossing me on to my back and trying to roll on top of me again, but I threw his momentum across me, letting him land back on the mat as I came up to straddle him.

I could see the frustration pumping through his body as he landed, and in an instant, he had lifted his upper body off the ground to meet mine. His right hand flew to the back of my neck, ready to fling me off him once more.

But he didn’t. He stilled, his movement frozen in time. I could feel the tension in every part of him. In the shoulders under my hands. In the grip behind my head. In the strong thighs against my ass. There was the closeness again. The breaths that caressed each other’s skin. And the gaze that locked between us.

His lips crashed into mine in a fury and I responded in kind.

My hands flew from his shoulders to tangle in his hair, pulling his face impossibly closer to mine as the kiss deepened. His free hand came off the mat to squeeze my thigh before moving firmly to my ass and pushing me down on to his lap.

I rocked my hips against him as I rolled my body into the kiss, pressing my chest into his.

He sucked in a sharp breath at the friction and turned his face into my neck. His grip on my ass tightened, pushing me further and further down onto him as I ground my hips into his. His fingers moved from my neck to my hair, grabbing a fistful and pulling harshly to expose my neck.

I gasped at the sensation and let my body tense as the pain rang through me.

“You’re fine,” he growled the words into my neck and I felt something flutter deep inside me. His lips traced the whispered words, laving over my neck. Kissing and biting hard enough to mark me for the mornings to come.

My eyes rolled back into my head as he worked gasps and moans from my lips. I rode his lap, desperate for friction and feeling him stiffen below me. Through the layers of clothes, I traced his cock with the lips of my cunt, letting my wetness seep through my pants.

“ _Jesus_.” He groaned a prayer into my ear before trailing a kiss down my jaw and capturing my lips again. In an easy motion, he clutched me against him, lifted my weight into his arms, and laid me gently on the mat. The butterfly soft touch of the ground against my skin was in sharp contrast to the war his lips were raging against mine.

I wound my hand into his hair and pulled him roughly away from the kiss. I stared into his eyes, my anger from before anything but quelled by the sudden outburst.

“This conversation is _so_ not over.” I murmured as I fought the urge to sink my fingers into the muscles of his arms.

His wild eyes flashed at me, amusement behind annoyance as he lowered his face to mine, his lips ghosting a kiss over mine as he whispered: “Why do you always have to be so damn _stubborn_.”

On his last word, his hips snapped into mine, the contact through our clothes making me gasp in pleasure.

Not one to waste a gaping mouth, Steve’s lips attacked mine again, open mouthed and messy. My tongue fought a losing battle for dominance, but the thrill of friction between my legs sent my mind spiraling to anything but defiance. My hands roamed over him, nailed digging into his back as I pulled at his shirt, desperate to get it off of him, to feel his skin against mine.

His hands were finally coming to claw at the unnecessary fabric when the sliding of the gym door drew both of our attention.

We were frozen in action, Steve laying heavy between my legs and me, flat on my back and panting for air when Tony had approached the automatic door. His jaw dropped at the sight of our kiss swollen lips and a childish grin was spreading across his face when—.

_Thunk._

The sound of metal on skull rang through the air and Tony’s smile faded as he fell, comically stiff, to the floor. And standing behind him: Bucky, holding a newly dented fire extinguisher.

There were footsteps in the hallway.

“Oh good you caught up with hi—.”

Natasha’s voice faltered as she turned to see Steve and I looking at the both of them in horror. She bristled and shrugged.

“What? We didn’t even use drugs this time.”


	42. Heart to Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ~romance now, smut next chapter~

The ice packs and curse words that were flung across the medical bay that afternoon left a very disgruntled super assassin pair sulking to an in house therapy session, supervised by Captain America himself. I, however, stayed with Tony as he nursed the throbbing bump on the back of his head while he and Bruce tried to explain their progress in the lab.

“Would you stop trying to make it sound like it was all Strange’s idea?” Tony grumbled from the bed. “He can do a few magic tricks, ‘connect himself with the multiverse,’ so what.”

I scoffed, coming to sit on the end of the bed.

He groaned. “Uh-uh, my bed. Mine. There are plenty of other beds for you to sit on in this massive building I own.”

I ignored him as I tucked my legs up beside me on the sheets. “You were saying, Bruce?”

“Right, well,” Bruce turned to the high tech projection that was floating in the center of the room. “It’s just that, with Dr. Strange’s advice…”

Tony groaned.

“…it looks like we’re right on the cusp of linking your universe back up to the portals, and soon after we may be able to untether it completely.”

My heart fluttered in my chest. “So I’d be able to come and go as I please again? I could go home for lunch and be back for training?”

Bruce shrugged, “I don’t see why not.”

I bit my lip to keep my composure, but I couldn’t fight the happy squeal that squeezed past my lips and rang in the room. I bounced on the bed, hiding my face in my hands.

“ _Ach_ , hey kid be careful, would ya? You gonna give me another migraine and I just sent my last two to get their brains shrunk.” Tony went to readjust the icepack on his head, only to find its cool had all but worn off. He made a face and tossed the spent pack beside the bed. “Screw it, I’ll just suffer.”

I nearly jumped off the bed as I ran towards Bruce, throwing careless arms over his shoulders and hugging him tightly. He chuckled in surprise before trying to find a place for his own arms to wrap around me. His hands came to rest high on my shoulder blades and he squeezed me gently in what I could only assume was meant to be a hug.

“Thank you, Bruce.”

“ _Bruce?_ ”

I rolled my eyes at Tony’s voice before turning back and wrapping my arms around him as well. “Thank you too, Tony.”

“Uh huh, yeah. There, there.” He patted my head diminutively and released himself from my arms in mock disinterest. “At least now that you’re back you can finally get that super soldier off my case. I swear, the past two years, I couldn’t breathe without Rogers knowing about it. ‘Couldn’t even get coffee without the guilt trip of… Oh shit, Bruce, what did he call it?”

“Oh, ‘wasting the minutes you could be spending getting her back.’”

Tony snapped and pointed at his friend, standing from the bed. “That’s it.” He turned to me, “And now you are back. Which is great.”

A protest bubbled in my throat, but he stopped it.

“I know I wasn’t all for it at first,” he defended. “But in all fairness, we were battling a Titan. And if something happened to you while you were watching our backs instead of baking cookies with your mom…” he shrugged. “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”

My heart panged and I felt my resolve melt. “Tony…”

“Uh uh uh,” he pressed a finger to my lips and I rolled my eyes. I swear the man could smell sentiment a mile away. “It’s not because I care. It’s simply because a certain super soldier would’ve murdered me on the spot. In fact, who are you? Bruce, do you know who this girl in our tower is?”

I laughed and Tony cracked a rare smile in my direction. His eyes softened and he gathered me into a real hug. “I’m glad you’re back.”

The words felt sweet against the shell of my ear and I almost didn’t notice when the scientist gently brushed my hair off my neck.

“But apparently not as glad as _some people_.”

I gasped as I remembered the way Steve’s lips had attacked my neck this morning. I flung back from Tony, making him laugh outright, and I frantically petted my hair back over my neck.

“Don’t worry, kid,” Tony laughed as Bruce tried to hide an amused smile. “Whenever one of us has the _good_ kind of bruises in the med bay, well, that’s a day worth celebrating.”

———————————————————————————————————-

I left Tony and Bruce to their work and settled in down in the main room. It was strange being back in a place that had felt so familiar so many years ago. It was strange how easy it was to feel at home. As if no time had passed. Like I’d gotten back from a vacation and the tan was already starting to fade.

I dropped myself on one of the large black couches in the center of the room, nesting into the armrest and pulling out a phone Tony had given me from the lab. I couldn’t call back to my universe yet, but the phone I’d had the foresight to throw into my bag when Strange found me was now abandoned with the rest of my belongings on some sand hill in Titan. So at the very least, I could entertain myself with a few new apps and catch up on what I’d missed in my time away.

_Away?_

I shook my head as if to clear it of the word. No, no I was home. The past four years, I’ve been home. And now I’m back. Back home. I can have two homes. Two families. A universe apart, but still equal parts of me.

I heard footsteps in the hall and I looked up from my phone just in time to watch Steve cross the threshold.

He looked at me, his eyes smiling for a moment before he sent them to the ground. He threw his hands in the pockets of his jeans and walked slowly towards me. “Fancy seeing you here.”

My breath retreated and I fought to find something coherent to say. “Oh well, you know. It is the living room. And I am living, so.”

I was grateful his eyes were still glued to the floor as I bit my lip and mentally chastised myself for my sudden awkwardness. But I looked back up at him and he smiled, a real genuine, honest, if a bit sheepish, smile and my heart melted right out of my chest and on to the floor.

“I was looking for you.”

I flushed a deep red, but I fought to match his suave. “Is that so?”

“Well, like you said,” he rounded the arm of the couch and sat on the end opposite me, “we didn’t finish our conversation.”

Something jumped in my stomach; a primal hope that this conversation might end like last one, but I pushed the feeling down and let the man continue.

Steve’s face hardened just a bit and he looked to his hands with guilt. “I do want to apologize for my actions earlier.” He had his Captain voice on. “I hope I wasn’t too forward.”

I couldn’t help the soft laugh that escaped my throat and I was relived to see Steve smile at my reaction.

He continued. “But now that you’ve got me, here, talking, I mean.” He stumbled over his words and I fought the urge to kiss him right then and there. “All I mean is, what ever you wanted to talk about. Whatever questions you have, just—,” he looked me dead in the eye, his vulnerability as clear as his humor, “—just shoot.”

I was suddenly completely unable to do anything but smile. I pulled my lips left and right trying to loosen them, but the joy only spread higher on my cheeks. I noticed his eyes tracing over my happiness and my smile spread across his face too, contagious and delicious across his lips. The both of us, curled up on the couch, grinning like teenagers.

Finally I found a quiet voice.

“What took you so long?”

The question was joyful and honest, but it brought a quiet sadness to both of our faces.

He broke eye contact, nodding to himself. “Yeah, that is the question, isn’t it?” He laughed, running a hand over his face to release the tension of the smile. “It was a million things.”

My smile softened. I folded my legs further underneath me and leaned forward so I could face him completely from my end of the couch.

“When I met you, you were so young. And helpless at first too, I mean, anyone would’ve been in your position.” His eyes set firmly on mine. “But you were strong. Hell you went against me in the first few days I knew you. Half my size and so set in your convictions that you wouldn’t let me push you around. I admired you.

“And then, of course, I saw you with Pietro.” He breathed into the couch, swinging his legs onto the cushions and settling in. “You know how I felt about that. But he was closer to your age, and you were happy with him so… who was I to say anything.”

“You did throw him through a window.”

“A man can only take so much.”

We both smiled, our eyes meeting in the middle of the couch. I untucked my legs and laid them over his.

“What else?”

“What do you mean?”

I lifted my brows. “None of that explains the way you acted when I came back.”

His eyes fell to his lap and he was deep in thought for a moment.

“Come closer.”

He read the surprise on my face and his eyes flicked mischievously. "Unless you want me to come to you."

He looked up at me with honest eyes and I couldn’t help but stand and walk over to where he sat. Slowly he moved his hands to my waist, checking my eyes for permission, and guided me down onto his lap.

I squirmed for a moment, suddenly nervous about crushing him, and tried to wiggle myself off his legs.

He scoffed and pulled me tighter to him, lifting the both of us on the couch until he nestled me against the seat, sandwiching me between the back of the couch and his body and letting my legs drape heavily over his. He kept one arm wrapped around me while the other came up under my chin, pinching my jaw and turning me to look straight into his eyes.

“When you came back,” he spoke clearly and openly, determined that I would hear every word. “It was the happiest day of my life.”

I shuddered under his gaze and something nervous in me wanted to break the tension. “We were in the middle of a battle that day—.”

“The happiest. Day. Of my life.”

He repeated the words and I let them sink into my skin. _The happiest day of his life_. I breathed into the romance. _This was real._ I didn’t want to run from this feeling. I didn’t want to run from him ever again.

“But,” he continued, sadness in his eyes, “even seeing you, older, more beautiful, everything I could have dreamed of, it couldn’t distract me from the guilt of losing you.”

My breath caught in my throat. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“That didn’t change the way it felt.” His jaw was tense and his eyes were hard. “We lost you. We promised to keep you safe and we lost you. And I told you— I _told_ you we would get you back—.”

“You did—.”

“No, _Strange_ did.” He corrected me and I could feel the frustration simmering under his skin. That ice cool he was so good at keeping seemed to disintegrate with every word. “We spent years looking for you and he pulls you out of thin air, like it was _nothing_. And everything I promised you, everything I wanted to do for you… I couldn’t.”

“You know I would never blame you for that. You were looking for a miracle.”

“I was looking for _you_.” His eyes were stern, but full. “So when you got blasted out of the sky, when I saw that alien charging at you, when I saw you go up against Thanos himself, I thought, ‘My god, I’m going to lose her again.’ And I was terrified. But….” His throat tightened and I could see how hard he was trying to keep his resolve.

“Steve—.”

“No, no. You deserve to know why I’ve been avoiding you.”

I rested a soft hand on his chest and let him continue.

“I’ve been your friend for years. I’ve known you for so many days and nights and missions and meals, and seeing you on that field, I was terrified of losing you. And I knew that if I cared about you so much as a friend, as a teammate… if I finally let myself love you—.”

My heart stilled at the word.

“I couldn’t survive losing you again.”

I couldn’t help myself. The hand that had rested on his chest moved to cup his jaw as I brought my lips to his. The tension that I thought had released in the gym finally flooded out of the room at his last words. There was nothing between us as his mouth moved against mine passionately. His arm squeezed me tighter to his side and I shifted on his lap to get a better angle towards his lips.

“You won’t lose me,” I mumbled against his lips. “You’ll never lose me again.”

I didn’t know if the tears on our cheeks had come from his eyes or mine, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. He pulled me up his body, moving my chest over his and setting my legs on either side of his hips, the whole time never letting his lips leave mine. His hand ran down my back, finding the curve of my waist and wrapping his fingers around my side.

“I’ll never lose you.”

“Never.”


	43. Making Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Literally just smut. Lovely dove soft smut. Before we get to the fun stuff.

“You know I don’t usually do this.”

Steve smiled as I laughed against his lips. His hands were firm on my back, the tips of his fingers swiping inquisitively under the hem of my shirt.

“‘Could’ve fooled me,” I mumbled before taking my lips on a journey along his cheek, on the coarse edge of his beard.

His hands squeezed my sides when my teeth tugged on his ear.

“I only mean,” he continued and I could hear the chiding humor in his voice, “that usually when I want someone, I take them out to a nice dinner first— mmmmmm.” His words ran from him as my mouth dove to his neck, sucking and biting on the thin skin. “Just as a way to— _shit—_ to get to know each other.”

I laughed as a large hand landed on the back of my head, pulling my lips from his neck and bringing my face back to his. His eyes studied me, equal parts frustrated, amused, and lust blown.

I flashed him a teasing smile.

“So what are you telling me, _Captain_?” I batted my eyes as he hardened at the name. “Are you going to take me out? Wine and dine me? Get to know me? What I like?”

He lifted his back from the couch, his chest pressing against mine and I was sure he could feel the thump of my heart through the fabric of our shirts.

“Oh, we’re well past that,” he teased, squeezing his fingers into my hips as he pulled me closer. He ghosted his lips over mine before trailing hot breath over my cheek and whispering in my ear. “I already know you. I know the way you walk. The way you talk. The way you smile.”

One of his hands traced a gentle line up my spine and I shivered.

“And as for what you like…”

The hand came up to grab my hair and pulled harshly, baring my throat to him. I gasped, my back arching and my thighs tightening around him.

“… that wasn’t too hard to figure out.”

His lips ran against my neck, gentle and soft— so different from their attacks in the gym, but still they had me stifling hums and moans. My hands ran up his arms, relishing the feeling of his muscles under my fingertips. Coming up to his shoulders, my nails dug into his shirt and the skin underneath, trying to pull Steve closer to me, trying to bring his lips to ravage my neck the way I wanted them to.

I felt the sharp exhale against my neck and my hair stood on end. The fist in my hair tightened, pulling me down on to him as he thrust his hips up to mine. We both let out a ragged breath at the contact and our hands became hungrier, roaming freely over each others bodies, hardly stopping to appreciate, instead thoroughly happy to explore. He released the hold he had on my hair and my lips flew back to his, open mouthed and messy. He moved under me, hands rolling my hips over his as we both started to soak through our pants.

Suddenly his hands had moved under my thighs and he was standing, my legs wrapped around him. I squealed as we ascended and one of his hands flew from my thigh to cover my mouth. I looked at him aghast and he met me with smiling eyes.

“Careful, doll. Can’t have you being too loud in the common room. People might think something’s going on.”

I picked up on his tease and narrowed my eyes at him. Smiling against his hand, I let my tongue peak out between my lips, running the tip along his fingers.

His eyes flashed, then darkened as he pulled his hand away from me and replaced it with his lips. His hand flew back to thigh, the wetness on his fingers very noticeable through my pants. In an instant he was moving again, large, hurried steps taking the both of us to his room. My heart hit so hard against my ribcage, I was sure the bones would break, but I didn’t have time for a second thought because suddenly I was pressed against his door and his hands and his lips and his hips and —.

“ _Ohhhhhhh._ ”

A near pornographic moan fell from my mouth and I felt embarrassment rising in my cheeks, but Steve’s hands only gripped me tighter.

“ _Jesus_.”

An arm wrapped around my waist, prying me from the door as Steve’s other hand searched for the knob. The door swung open, the both of us stumbling across the threshold into the dark room. My back was quickly pressed up against the wall as he kicked the door closed, leaving us both in darkness.

He kissed me again, long and lingering as the tone changed. There was no more rush, there was no battle to fight, there was no argument, no conversation, no prying eyes. After all this time, we were alone. Together.

His lips fell from mine and for a moment the both us us just held held each other, content to breath the same air. Slowly, he guided my legs off his waist, letting them fall easily to the floor. I let myself feel the ground beneath me, the wall behind me, and the firm chest against me. I ran my hands down the front of his shirt, feeling him against my palms, putting the barest of inches between us.

I could feel him looking down at me as I watched my hands trail over his chest and it took an ounce of bravery to bring my eyes back up to his. But when I did, when I saw him smiling down at me, my heart finally slowed and I realized that even with all the lust, all the tension, I was blissfully at ease.

He caught one of my hands in his, bringing my palm up to his lips for a gentle kiss before letting my hand fall to my side and stepping away from me. I leaned into the wall as my eyes adjusted in the dark room. I could see him walking towards the bed, silhouetted by the picture window featuring the Manhattan skyline. Something that would always feel like home to me. New York. New York and Steve.

I hummed, enjoying the feeling of my body rumbling against the wall as I watched Steve pull his shirt over his head and toss it on a chair in the corner of the room.

“I’m surprised you didn’t just fuck me right here against the wall.”

He smirked at my taunting, the quirk of his lips highlighted by the dull glow from the window. He shook his head, walking back towards me. “I thought about it. A lot.”

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from squealing again. “Oh, really?”

“Mm-hm.” He planted his feet in the center of the room and looked me up and down, his brow furrowed, concentrating. “But then I figured, I can always fuck you against the wall tomorrow. Fuck you in the shower the day after. Fuck you in the chair. On the floor.”

I could tell he liked watching me quiver against the wall, each of his words pulling me apart.

His eyes bored into mine. “I don’t want to fuck you tonight. There’s time for that later.”

“Plenty of time,” I mumbled hungrily and he let out a soft laugh.

“Plenty of time,” he parroted, his eyes sparkling. “But tonight, I want to show you how I feel.” He took a step towards me. “Slowly.”

He held a hand out to me, waiting for me to meet him. I floated off the wall, my hand resting comfortably in his as he led me to the edge of the bed. He stopped, his hands coming up to cradle my face as if I were made of glass and slotting his lips on to mine, kissing me breathless. I couldn’t help running my hands over his chest again this time letting the thrill of his bare skin go straight to my core. I gasped against his mouth and he slipped his tongue between my lips. The heat was returning, but it was slow burn, deep and passionate.

His hands pulled at the bottom of my shirt, pulling it off in a single motion. His hands grazed my back, the lightness of his fingers tickling me. I giggled and flinched away from the lightness of his touch.

I pulled away from him, laughter still on my lips. “I can get behind slow, but for god’s sake _touch me_.”

He didn’t need to be told twice.

With a smile, he dove back to my lips, his hands gripping the bare skin of my sides and trailing up to deftly undo the hooks of my bra. My eyebrows felt up as my bra fell off my shoulders.

“If you don’t usually do this, how are you so good at that?”

“You pick a few things up in a hundred years.”

My laugh was silenced by strong arms lifting me onto the bed, hands traveling down to the top of my pants before peeling them off. I scooted back on the bed, pulling him up with me until we were both comfortably settled on top of the sheets. He tugged his own pants off his legs as he followed me up the bed, his skin hot against mine in the cool air of the room.

I spread my legs beneath him and he ground his hips against mine. We both moaned at the friction and our hands were traveling each other again, tracing over curves we’d always inferred but never had the privilege of seeing underneath the shirts and uniforms.

He rocked his hips into mine again and my thighs tried to squeeze closed to hold that friction there for just a moment longer. His hands came down to pet the inside of my thighs, pushing them open against the bed as he started kissing down my body.

“Oh _fuck_.” I whispered as his lips closed around my nipple and sucked at the tender skin. His teeth pulled at the nub, making me squirm underneath him and he rutted his hips against me again. When I gasped, he quickly shifted to my other nipple, biting and swirling it to match the first. I thought I was coming undone, but he was far from finished.

His head kept moving, further and further down my body, kissing down my chest, down my stomach, all the way until his lips traced the top go my underwear. Taking the lace between his teeth, he dragged the fabric down until I was revealed to him, my heart stuttering as his eyes laved over me.

Hurried hands pushed my underwear all the way down my legs as he started to leave open mouth kisses on the insides of my thighs. I could feel my legs starting to shake under his grip, trying to close, trying to hold onto that pressure that I needed so badly.

“Steve,” I begged, my hand gripping his hair. “Please.”

He stopped, his eyes looking up at me, wide and lust blown. “Christ. ‘Never knew you looked so pretty when you begged, doll.” He dipped his head towards my center and mumbled words I almost missed: “Gonna have to explore that later.”

I didn’t have time to respond as he licked up my slit. My mind was blank as I arched off the bed, but he didn’t let up for a moment. His mouth was hot against my clit as he licked, sucked, and kissed his way to my pleasure. Hands dropped from my thighs letting them close tightly around his head, and a single finger slid against the sheets to massage my entrance. I moaned as he pushed his finger into me, so wet that it slid in with hardly any friction even if it was a snug fit.

“Oh my god, Steve.” I groaned as he pushed a second finger in to join the first. His mouth was still doing gymnastics over my clit and I could hear my heartbeat thundering in my ears. “Fuck, Steve, I’m close.”

Humming against me, he twisted his fingers inside me, hitting just the right spot to make me see stars. I felt all the air leave my lungs as his tongue flicked me through my orgasm. My jaw and my legs were quivering by the time he finally pulled off me. The look of him was sinful, his mouth wet, his lips red, and his hair tousled by my fingers.

I reached a shaky hand down, pulling him up to kiss me and relishing in the taste of myself on his lips. His chest was hard against me, but not as hard as the cock that was straining against his briefs. I sent a hand down to slip between the fabric and his skin and tried to wrap my hand around it.

Tried.

He hissed in my ear as I ran my hand over the head and spread his slick over the shaft. I pushed his underwear down his legs and he kicked them off the edge of the bed. Bringing my other hand down, I stroked him, trying to feel every inch of his thick cock as it slid between my hands.

He kissed me through his moans, one hand gripping the headboard to hold himself up, the other searching frantically for the nightstand beside the bed. His hand dove into the drawer and pulled out a thin foil packet the shone in the light from the window. I stopped him, pulling one hand from his dick and resting it over the light hair on his stomach.

He looked at me, waiting for an explanation, but I was uncharacteristically wordless. I looked towards the condom in his hand and he raised his eyebrows at me, seemingly catching the hesitance in my eyes.

“I’m on birth control,” I told him, almost meekly. Almost embarrassed to ask for what I wanted. “I just— I want to feel you.”

His cock twitched his his hand and I could see his jaw clench as he fought to keep focused.

“You’re sure?”

I nodded. “Yes. Yes. Oh god, please, yes.”

His lips slammed back into mine, the condom thrown off the bed with such a force that it hit the far wall with a smack.

He lowered his hips between mine, thrusting his cock between my folds and groaning at the wetness. Balancing himself over me on one elbow, he lined himself up. I closed my eyes as I felt his tip resting where I needed it most. He was so close. So close.

“Look at me.”

My eyes flew open, meeting his in the inches between us as he slowly pushed in. I struggled to find enough air to fill my lungs, but I couldn’t tear my eyes from his as he filled me, inch by inch until he was fully seated and I was speared on his hard cock.

“ _Fuck_.”

He rolled his hips, dragging himself in and out at a cruel pace while I found pleasure in the extreme stretch. I could feel ever bit of him, every vein as he pushed in over and over again. My breath came in pants and gasps as every stroke fucked the air out of me. He leaned down to kiss me, tender and loving at first, but quickly growing hungry as his tip prodded at my cervix. I let out a cry of pleasure against his mouth and the sound curled him against me, burying him deeper in my core.

“You’re so tight,” he breathed into my neck his hips rolling into mine faster now. “God, you feel so good around me.”

I wished I could find words for him, but I was too breathless and too thoughtless to even comprehend something as trivial as language. I could only groan and gasp and moan and sputter as he filled me over and over again.

A particularly hard thrust deep inside me finally brought me back to humanity.

“Oh my god, Steve!” I yelled.

I felt a smile against my neck that quickly turned into a moan as he pumped into me.

“Fuck baby,” he growled into my ear, “tell me what you want.”

“I want you—Oh!”

He thrust hard into me, pulling another cry from my lips.

“Gotta be more specific baby.” He ran his teeth over my earlobe and I briefly considered what a sadistic bastard he really was. “Tell me what you want.”

I whined. “I wanna cum.”

“Uh-huh.” He reached behind him to wrap my quivering legs around his waist. “Tell me more.”

The new position brought him even deeper in me and I fought to find language again.

“Come on doll, tell me what you want.”

“I wanna cum! I wanna cum on your cock! Please, please I wanna feel you fill me —ahh!”

With a shift of his hips, Steve was driving into me from a whole new angle. His hand was drawing quick circles over my clit and his balls were slapping against me with every stroke. I couldn’t think of anything but pleasure as he brought me to the edge of my peak, until finally:

“Come for me.”

The whispered words undid me at my core and I crumpled around him as I crested. I felt him pump hard once, twice more before pulling me tight against him and burying himself to the hilt as he pulsed inside me, filling me with his cock and his cum as we came down from our pleasure together.

I went limp in his arms and he pulled out of me, his cum spilling down to the sheets. He walked to the ensuite and returned with soft tissues to clean up the mess between my legs. He tossed the dirty tissue in the bin by his bed and turned back to look at me, naked, tired, and blissed out.

I caught his eye and fought a shy smile as his gaze traveled over me. “What?”

He smiled at the word, looking up into my eyes. “I love you.”

He said it like it was the simplest, most obvious thing on the world, and I couldn’t help but smile.

“I love you too.”


	44. Shower Sex

When the sun finally seeped in through the skyline windows, I was tucked snuggly under Steve’s arm. I wiggled in his grip and he pulled me tighter against him, pressing my back against his chest. I stretched into his hold, my body taunt and tight from the night before.

_The night before._

A blush he couldn’t see spread across my cheeks as the memories of last night montaged on the backs of my eyelids. I bit my lip, debating between staying blissfully still in Steve’s embrace or running to the bathroom to read the love letter bruises that surly decorated my neck, hips, and thighs. I stifled a giggle at the thought of Steve’s teeth on my neck and squeezed my thighs together to contain my excitement.

My movement, however subtle, pried a grumble from the man behind me as my hips shifted against him. The arm that I had been using as a pillow slipped from under my head and traveled over my chest, pressing affectionately on my breasts as it went. A lazy hand traced over my side, parting from my skin only to jump over the arm that was still tight around my waist, and stopped on the crest of my hip, where it stayed to draw sweet, small circles.

“‘Morning.”

The groggy voice behind me was enough to make my head spin and I couldn’t help but stretch into the pleasure of the sound, rolling my head towards him to meet sleep-squint eyes.

I bit my lips at the sight of his tousled hair, reading over the bruises that I had left on his neck to answer those on mine. His eyes flicked to my mouth as my lip pulled out from my teeth and he hummed as his brow knitted.

“Doll, you really can’t keep doing this to me.”

I breathed a laugh and turned away from him, wiggling back on my side and grinding my hips into his. I felt his fingers dig into me as I moved and I smiled to myself.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean, Captain.”

His breath was suddenly right against my ear and I shivered at it’s touch.

“Don’t start games you can’t finish.”

“I can definitely finish,” I mused, turning my head to look at him again. “With or without you.”

His eyes narrowed, but his cock twitched hard against my back. I smirked, fluttering my eyelashes at him as he tried to compose himself.

“You’re gonna be a problem.”

“ _Your_ problem now,” I wiggled my hips again, “ _Captain_.” I laughed as I pried his hands off of my and slipped out of bed. The air was cool against my skin and I could feel my chest perking at the chill.

“Where do you think you’re going?” His voice was gruff enough to half mask his whine.

I tiptoed around the room, looking over the discarded clothes from the night before, but I just couldn’t bring myself to squeeze back into the leggings I had worn the day before. Luckily, my eye caught on the shirt Steve had thrown off before ravishing me and I tiptoed across the room to snatch it— all too aware of the way his eyes were stuck to me as I went.

“I figured I should go and get cleaned up,” I explained as I threw his shirt over my head. I looked back at him, bare chested and pouting under the white sheets, and my heart swelled. “Oh, come on. Don’t look at me like that. I have to go brush my teeth.”

“I’ve got a spare tooth brush here.” Steve pushed the covers off and stood from the bed.

He stood firm, tall, and proud in the sunlight, and Steve did too. There was no way to pry my eyes from the hard cock that pressed against his stomach as he came towards me. With a gentle hand he lifted my chin so I could meet his smiling eyes.

“Distracted?” He teased and I blushed hard pushing his chest away playfully.

But he was fast; he caught my wrist in his hand and used it to warp my arm around him, pulling my tight against his chest. I could feel how firm he was against my stomach and it sent shockwaves between my legs. I looked up at him and his eyes continued to mock mine.

“Besides, I made you promises last night. Promises I intend to keep.” His free hand came up to tease the hem of the shirt that fit me more like a dress. “I believe I said against the wall. On the floor. In the chair….”

My eyes flicked to the leather armchair that I had just pulled his shirt from and desire ran through me like a race horse.

“Oh, and I almost forgot…” His hands tugged at the shirt again, inching it up until the fabric gathered around my waist and he pulled it towards him, making me gasp as our bodies grew impossibly closer. “… in the shower.”

I looked up at him wide eyes and dumbly excited. I nodded quickly and the smile that stretched across his face was so full of light it rivaled the sun coming in through the window. He placed both his hands on me face and looked deep into my eyes. I didn’t know what to do other than look back at him, lips parted and breath stolen by the full moment.

His thumb brushed against my cheek. “Come on.”

He took me by the hand and led me into the bathroom, our bare feet padding softly on the floor. He reached into the medicine cabinet and, true to his word, pulled out a new toothbrush, took off the packaging, and handed it to me with a smile. I nodded my thanks as he also handed me his toothpaste before turning around to start the shower.

I watched him as he walked away, the new toothbrush slowing in my mouth as I studied the way his muscles moved with grace. The way his shoulders bent to turn on the water. How his ass looked so… _perfect_. I tilted my head, toothbrush still languidly stroking in my mouth as I wondered just what exactly was in that serum they gave him to make him so—.

Steve turned back around and I snapped my head to the mirror, brushing with even more vigor than before as I tried to ignore the smirk that spread across his face when he caught me. He stood next to me at the mirror, pulling out his own toothbrush and starting to brush beside me.

I felt stupid trying to avoid his teasing eyes in the mirror as we brushed our teeth together. It was so inane. So normal and natural and not sexy. And yet I couldn’t help the fire that built in me as he stood so close: a thick wall of muscles and a raging hard on who just couldn’t seem to hide how much he enjoyed my shyness.

I finished brushing my teeth, setting my toothbrush in the cup in the medicine cabinet, and briskly turning away from the mirror. I had nowhere to go, so I stood awkwardly in the middle of the bathroom, trying to focus on testing the temperature of the shower.

It was hot.

I jumped when I felt hands on my hips, spinning me around to face Steve again. He laughed and lifted me, my legs wrapping around him. He brushed a loose hair from my face and I bit my lips to hide my smile. He squinted.

“Why are you so shy this morning?”

I chewed on my smile and shrugged.

He raised his brows and gave me a sharp bounce in his arms, laughing as he reminded me: “That’s not exactly an answer.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ok, well I don’t know. I just—. You know, I’m happy. Steve, I’m happy.”

I saw the love swell in his eyes before he leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on my lips. I retuned it with as much love as he gave me, but pulled away a moment after.

“And also every time I see you, you look so hot that I just want you to fuck me raw on every surface of this city.”

His eyes darkened with lust and I could feel his cock twitch. “You want me to fuck you raw?”

I nodded.

“Hard?”

I nodded again, certain he could feel my wetness against his stomach.

He looked deep into my eyes, suddenly sober and serious. “Sweetheart, do you want me to be rough with you?”

My lungs did a somersault as I nodded again, my pussy clenching in excitement.

His hand came up to grip my jaw holding me firmly until my eyes matched the clarity they found in his. “Words, sweetheart. Do you want me to be rough with you?”

“Yes.”

I watched his breath tremble out of him and his whole body seemed to go into overdrive.

“Ok.” he said, his jaw clenching and his cock leaking enough to drip on the bathroom floor.

I looked at the concern in his eyes and reached a hand to his chest. I could feel how fast his heart was pounding and I was suddenly worried. “Is—is it ok? We don’t have to, I mean, I love you any way you want to f—.”

The rest of my sentence was muted by his lips on mine again, harder this time and unrelenting. The hand underneath my squeezed hard on my ass and I instinctively rolled my hips away from his fingers, brushing my clit against his stomach and making my moan loudly.

“Fuck, doll.” Steve muttered against my lips before bringing his head to the base of my neck and trying to steady his breathing. “Yes, of course it’s ok. It’s more than ok.” He looked up at me and I could see the lust shining in his eyes, “But it’s fast, and I don’t want to do anything to miss this up.”

I shook my head and combed my fingers through his hair. “You won’t.”

His smiled that signature worried, lopsided grin and my heart melted. “Alright, sweetheart. If you say so.” He moved in to kiss my cheek and then moved his mouth to ghost over my ear. “But we’ll start slow, ok?”

My hummed affirmation quickly dissolved into another moan as his teeth grabbed at my earlobe and tugged. Throwing back the shower curtain, he stepped the both of us under the hot water, his lips never leaving my neck as he went.

I hissed when the water hit my side, arching up into Steve’s chest as I let myself adjust to the heat and the steam that surrounded me. My hands spread the hot water over his chest, watching my fingers trace over his muscles in the light and marveling at the way the man was built. After so many years of falling for his heart, his laugh, and his stupid smiles, I’d nearly forgotten what a joy it was to love his body.

And the feeling seemed to be mutual.

Large hands gripped me hard around my waist and pulled my off of him. My feet were suddenly on the ground again, and in an instant I was spun to face the tiled wall. Steve pressed his hips to mine behind me, running his hands from my ass up my sides until they finally came to grab handfuls of my chest.

“Jesus, you are so goddamn beautiful.”

I giggled and pushed my hands against the wall to lean back into him. “Is this really you rough?”

I gasped as soon as the words were out of my mouth as I felt him enter me in a single, swift thrust. My breath caught in my throat as I clenched around him, the stretch so blissfully extreme that I was surprised I was still standing.

Steve leaned forward, whispering in my ear a quiet “You were saying?” before kissing me gently on the cheek, grabbing my hands from the wall and holding them in the small of my back, and leaning me forward until my breast pressed against the cool tiled wall.

Slowly, he pulled out of me, letting the air return to my body and letting me adjust to his inhuman size. But his next thrust in was just as hard and sharp as the first and my head went spinning again.

He stilled at my silence. “You still ok down there, doll?”

I nodded, squishing my cheek against the tiles.

He leaned close to me again, the smile clear in his voice. “Words, doll.”

I moaned as he pulled out of me again. “Yes,” I hissed as I crossed my ankles, trying to get some friction on my clit to distract me from the stretch and his torturous teasing.

“Uh-uh,” he chided, kicking my feet apart again. “You gotta tell me what you want, sweetheart.”

I whined. “Oh fuck you,” I muttered under my breath.

_Smack._

A sharp, but not harsh spank landed on my ass, making me gasp and clench against him.

“Now what was _that_?” He was teasing me again and I could hear the smile in his voice. “I thought you wanted it rough, and now baby can’t seem to take a little teasing? And that language,” he sighed dramatically, “…well I just don’t know if I can let it slide.”

I bit my lip at his obvious challenge and decided, against my better judgement, to meet him head on. I looked over my shoulder and met his eyes, finding that same competitive glare that I become so familiar with.

“Fine.” I arched my back and wiggled my ass back and forth, letting the tip of his cock shift inside me. “Punish me then.”

His eyebrows shot up and he couldn’t hide an excited smirk. “Your wish is my command.”

He slammed back into me with such a force that I could feel my organs rearranging around him. He hammered into me, pump after pump, each feeling deeper than the last. I couldn’t stop the breathless gasps and moans that left my lips, nor did I want to. I could feel the way his cock twitched as I cried out for him, as I clenched around his cock. The steam from the shower mixed with the lust in the air left me gasping in pleasure.

“Please, please,” I begged, rocking back to meet his thrusts.

“What baby?” He never stopped thundering into me, his hips snapping loud and wet against mine quicker and quicker. “What you you need?”

“I need you to touch me.” I whimpered, my thighs shaking beneath me.

“Ask nice sweetheart, ask me to cum— _fuck_.” His hips started to stutter and he fought to get his next words out. “Come on baby, ask your daddy to let you cum.”

The words sent a shiver down my spine and I felt my whole body tense. Hearing that word fall from Steve’s lips was among the last things I expected, but that didn’t keep it from lighting a fire in me that made me even more desperate.

“Please,” I whined, my arms straining against his grip. “Please touch me, daddy.”

He groaned behind me and quickly brought deft fingers to my clit. I gasped as he rubbed me hard and fast, in all the ways he’d learned I loved last night. I could feel him losing his rhythm behind me, I knew he was close and the very knowledge brought me closer to my own edge.

“Come on babygirl, cum on daddy’s cock.”

My soul left my body as I came, clenching hard around him and feeling him paint my walls with hot streams of cum. We both stilled, panting under the hot water as we came down together. My legs trembled as he slid out of me and he caught me before I could collapse to the floor.

“Careful,” he warned as he held my shaking body against him. “You ok?”

I looked up at him, quivering as I felt him cum chase the water down my legs. “Oh, I’m amazing,” I breathed, sounding as drunk as I felt. “And what about you, _daddy?_ ”

He let out a soft laugh and shrugged. “I saw it on the internet. Figured we should give it a try.”

I hummed and giggled, finding my own balance and throwing my arms over his shoulders. “I liked it. I like _you_.”

He smiled, “I like you too.”

I swayed with him for a moment, half dancing to music that wasn’t there, before a thought struck me.

“Have you ever thought about ‘sir’?” I looked up at him with big doe eyes. “Or ‘Captain’?”

His eyes flashed and he licked his lips as they curled into a smile. “I think— that I should get you cleaned up, and make you some breakfast.” His hands traveled over my body. “And then, we can try anything you want.”


End file.
